Dispersions of geometric TiO2 nanomaterials and their toxicity to RPMI 2650 nasal epithelial cells

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) based nanofilaments—nanotube, nanowire, nanorod—have gained interest for industrial, electrical, and as of recent, medical applications due to their superior performance over TiO2 nanoparticles. Safety assessment of these nanomaterials is critical to protect workers, patients, and bystanders as these technologies become widely implemented. Additionally, TiO2 based nanofilaments can easily be inhaled by humans and their high aspect ratio, much like asbestos fibers, may make them toxic in the respiratory system. The tendency of TiO2 nanofilaments to aggregate makes evaluating their nanotoxicity difficult and the results controversial, because incomplete dispersion results in larger particle sizes that are no longer in the nano dimensional size range. TiO2 nanofilaments are aggregated and difficult to disperse homogeneously in solution by conventional methods, such as sonication and vortexing. In this study, a microfluidic device was utilized to produce stable, homogeneous dosing solutions necessary for in vitro toxicity evaluation by eliminating any toxicity caused by aggregated TiO2 nanomaterials. The toxicity results could then be directly correlated to the TiO2 nanostructure itself. The toxicity of four TiO2 nanogeometries—nanotube, nanowire, nanorod, and nanoparticle—were assessed in RPMI 2650 human nasal epithelial cells at representative day, week, and month in vitro exposure dosages of 10, 50, 100 μg/ml, respectively. All TiO2 based nanomaterials dispersed by the microfluidic method were nontoxic to RPMI 2650 cells at the concentrations tested, whereas higher concentrations of 100 μg/ml of nanowires and nanotubes dispersed by sonication reduced viability up to 27 %, indicating that in vitro toxicity results may be controlled by the dispersion of dosing solutions.