Manuscript Title:

STUDY OF CARCINOGENIC POTENTIAL AND TOXIC EFFECTS OF TITANIUM DIOXIDE NANOPARTICLES ON FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

Author:

UZMA SHEHZADI, SUMERA SAJJAD, SHAGUFTA NAZ

DOI Number:

DOI:10.5281/zenodo.11174423

Published : 2024-05-10

About the author(s)

1. UZMA SHEHZADI - Department of Zoology, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan.
2. SUMERA SAJJAD - Department of Zoology, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan.
3. SHAGUFTA NAZ - Department of Zoology, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan.

Full Text : PDF

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is naturally occurring metal-oxide with variety of uses in agriculture, industry, medicine and daily personal care products when converted to nano-size (<100 nm). Toxicological studies demonstrated that TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) have injurious effects on human health and other environmental species. This study was designed to examine the carcinogenic potential of TiO2 NPs and their detrimental effects on female reproductive system along with steroidogenesis. Serum chemistry parameters, reproductive hormones like estrogen, progesterone and tumor marker CA-125 along with malignant effects on ovarian tissues in female rabbits (n = 60) were evaluated after TiO2 NPs treatment. Animals were randomly divided into three groups including two experimental and one control (n=20/group). Treated group-1 (T1) and treated group -2 (T2) received 5 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg TiO2 NPs respectively intraperitoneally daily for 3 months and control group only received 0.9% saline solution. Blood samples were collected fortnightly. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to estimate the changes in different parameters and histopathological examination to evaluate structural variations due to toxic effect of these NPs. The results of our study showed that all the serum chemistry attributes tended to increase significantly (P≤0.05), levels of sex hormones and CA-125 were also significantly different (P≤0.05) in treatment groups as compared to control group. Ovarian tissues were examined for histopathological changes through light microscopy which showed highly vacuolated cells and atretic primary follicles, cells with micronucleus, and congestion and degeneration of granulosa cells in TiO2 NPs treated groups. Hence, it might be established that TiO2 NPs could be potent carcinogens in ovarian tissues and pose damaging and toxic effects on steroidogenesis in female rabbits.


Keywords

Steroidogenesis, Tumor Marker CA-125, Toxic Effects, Oxidative Stress.