Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, NO. 44 West Culture Road, Ji'nan, 250012, Shandong Province, PR China.
Biology Institute, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), 28789 East Jingshi Road, Ji'nan, 250103, Shandong Province, PR China; Engineering Research Center of Zebrafish Models for Human Diseases and Drug Screening of Shandong Province, 28789 East Jingshi Road, Ji'nan, 250103, Shandong Province, PR China.
Chemosphere. 2020 Feb;240:124937. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124937. Epub 2019 Sep 24.
Nowadays, silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) as one of the most productive nano-powder, has been extensively applied in various filed. The potential harm of SiNPs has previously received severe attention. A bulk of researches have proven the adverse effect of SiNPs on the health of ecological organisms and human. However, neurotoxic impacts of SiNPs, still remain in the stage of exploration. The potential neurotoxic effects of SiNPs need to be further explored. And the toxic mechanism needs comprehensive clarification. Herein, the neurotoxicity of SiNPs of various concentrations (100, 300, 1000 μg/mL) on adult zebrafish was determined by behavioral phenotyping and confirmed by molecular biology techniques such as qPCR. Behavioral phenotype revealed observable effects of SiNPs on disturbing light/dark preference, dampening exploratory behavior, inhibiting memory capability. Furthermore, the relationship between neurotoxic symptom and the transcriptional alteration of autophagy- and parkinsonism-related genes was preliminarily assessed. Importantly, further investigations should be carried out to determine the effects of SiNPs to cause neurodegeneration in the brain as well as to decipher the specific neurotoxic mechanisms. In sum, this work comprehensively evaluated the neurotoxic effect of small-sized SiNPs on overall neurobehavioral profiles and indicated the potential for SiNPs to cause Parkinson's disease, which will provide a solid reference for the research on the neurotoxicity of SiNPs.
如今，二氧化硅纳米颗粒（SiNPs）作为最具生产力的纳米粉末之一，已广泛应用于各个领域。SiNPs 的潜在危害此前受到了严重关注。大量研究证明了 SiNPs 对生态生物和人类健康的不良影响。然而，SiNPs 的神经毒性仍处于探索阶段。需要进一步研究 SiNPs 的潜在神经毒性作用，并全面阐明其毒性机制。在此，通过行为表型测定和 qPCR 等分子生物学技术，确定了不同浓度（100、300、1000μg/mL）SiNPs 对成年斑马鱼的神经毒性。行为表型显示 SiNPs 对干扰光/暗偏好、抑制探索行为、抑制记忆能力有明显影响。此外，初步评估了神经毒性症状与自噬和帕金森病相关基因转录改变之间的关系。重要的是，应进一步开展研究，以确定 SiNPs 是否会导致大脑神经退行性变，并阐明其具体的神经毒性机制。总之，这项工作全面评估了小尺寸 SiNPs 对整体神经行为特征的神经毒性作用，并表明 SiNPs 有引发帕金森病的潜力，这将为 SiNPs 的神经毒性研究提供坚实的参考。
