Author(s)

Shigeru Sato, Takashi Takaki, Hidetoshi Nishiyama, Tokuya Omi

Department of Der- matology, Queen’s Square Medical Center, Yokohama, Japan.
Division of Morphological and Biomolecular Research, Graduate School of Medicine, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan.
R & D business Support Department Group 1 DATUM Solution business Operations, JEOL Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.

Nano-sized titanium oxide nanoparticles (TiO₂ NPs) are widely used as a dye in food and cosmetics. TiO₂ NPs are known to induce DNA damage when incorporated into cells. However, no bioassay is currently available to easily determine the cell incorporation of TiO₂ NPs or related DNA damage, and to date, few studies have examined the different degrees of incorporation into cells according to the size of the TiO₂ NPs particles and the presence or absence of cell specificity regarding DNA damage. This present study was therefore designed to examine COS7 cells that had incorporated TiO₂ NPs using atmospheric scanning electron microscopy (ASEM). The results indicated that absorption of TiO₂ NPs into cells and nuclear abnormalities had occurred. ASEM is a rapid and simple technique that enables the observation of samples immediately after fixation with glutaraldehyde and staining with phosphotungstic acid, and this method was suggested to be useful in screening for DNA damage.

COS7 Cells; TiO₂; Atmospheric Scanning Electron Microscopy (ASEM); Nanoparticle

S. Sato, T. Takaki, H. Nishiyama and T. Omi, "TiO₂ Nanoparticles Induced Genotoxicity in Cultured Cells Using Atmospheric Scanning Electron Microscopy (ASEM)," Journal of Cosmetics, Dermatological Sciences and Applications, Vol. 3 No. 1, 2013, pp. 121-123. doi: 10.4236/jcdsa.2013.31018.