Antioxidant thymoquinone and eugenol alleviate TiO 2 nanoparticle-induced toxicity in human blood cells. - GreenMedInfo Summary

Titanium dioxide (TiO) nanoparticles (NPs) are used extensively in a variety of commercial, industrial, and medical products, due to which human exposure is inevitable. This study aimed to explore the potential of eugenol and thymoquinone (TQ), two well-known antioxidants, in counteracting the NP-induced toxicity in human blood cells. Fresh lymphocytes and erythrocytes were isolated from volunteer human blood donors and incubated with 50 μg/mL of TiONPs in the presence and absence of 50 μM of TQ and 20 μg/mL of eugenol for 3 h. Results showed that NP-treatment-induced hemolysis, oxidative stress, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage, and reduced ATPase activity in the erythrocytes. In the lymphocytes treated with NPs alone (50 μg/mL), cytotoxicity in MTT assay and DNA damage in comet assay were observed; in addition, mitochondrial membrane potential collapsed and ADP/ATP ratio increased indicating mitochondrial function impairment. However, in the presence of antioxidants, all these NP-induced changes were mitigated significantly. The results were more significantwhen both antioxidants eugenol and TQ were given together. Thus, it seems that antioxidants eugenol and TQ can be used as a protective agent against TiONP-induced toxicity.