Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Aug;28(30):40793-40807. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-13558-6. Epub 2021 Mar 26.
Tungsten trioxide nanoparticles (WO NPs) have shown increasing promise in biological and biomedical fields in recent years. However, their possible hazards, especially the adverse effects related to their sizes on human health and environment, are still yet poorly understood. In this study, we compared the hepatotoxicity in mice induced by WO nanorods of two different lengths (125-200 nm and 0.8-2 μm) via intraperitoneal injection, and explored the protective role of melatonin, an antioxidant, against the hepatotoxicity. The results showed that 10 mg/kg/day of shorter WO nanorods could cause obvious hepatic function impairment, histopathological lesions, and significant enhancement in levels of oxidative stress and inflammation in mouse liver. However, similar effects were found only in the 20 mg/kg/day longer WO nanorods-treated mice, and these adverse effects were attenuated by pretreatment with melatonin. These findings indicate that WO nanorods can exert hepatotoxicity in mice in a dose- and length-dependent manner, and that shorter WO nanorods cause more severe hepatotoxicity than their longer counterparts. Melatonin could serve as an effective protective agent against the longer WO nanorods-induced hepatotoxicity by decreasing the oxidative stress level. This study is important for determining the environmental and human health risks of exposure to WO NPs and their size-dependent toxicity, and provides an appealing strategy to avoid the adverse effects. WO nanorods with different lengths can exert hepatotoxicity in mice, in a dose- and length-dependent manner. Short WO nanorods causes more severe hepatic injury than long ones. Melatonin exhibits an effectively protective effects against WO nanorods-induced hepatic injury through reducing the oxidative stress level.
三氧化钨纳米颗粒（WO NPs）近年来在生物和生物医学领域显示出越来越大的应用潜力。然而，它们的潜在危害，尤其是与尺寸相关的对人类健康和环境的不利影响，仍知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们通过腹腔注射比较了两种不同长度（125-200nm 和 0.8-2μm）的 WO 纳米棒对小鼠的肝毒性，并探讨了抗氧化剂褪黑素对肝毒性的保护作用。结果表明，10mg/kg/d 的短 WO 纳米棒可引起明显的肝功能损害、组织病理学损伤以及肝内氧化应激和炎症水平的显著升高。然而，只有在 20mg/kg/d 的长 WO 纳米棒处理组中才发现了类似的作用，而用褪黑素预处理可以减轻这些不良反应。这些发现表明，WO 纳米棒可在一定剂量和长度范围内对小鼠发挥肝毒性作用，且短 WO 纳米棒引起的肝毒性比长 WO 纳米棒更为严重。褪黑素可通过降低氧化应激水平，作为一种有效保护剂来对抗长 WO 纳米棒诱导的肝毒性。本研究对于确定暴露于 WO NPs 及其尺寸依赖性毒性对环境和人类健康的风险具有重要意义，并为避免不良反应提供了一种有吸引力的策略。不同长度的 WO 纳米棒可在一定剂量和长度范围内对小鼠发挥肝毒性作用，短 WO 纳米棒引起的肝损伤比长 WO 纳米棒更为严重。褪黑素可通过降低氧化应激水平，对 WO 纳米棒诱导的肝损伤发挥有效保护作用。
