Titanium dioxide nanoparticle impact and translocation through ex vivo, in vivo and in vitro gut epithelia.

Emilie Brun (1) , Frédérick Barreau (2, 3) , Giulia Veronesi (4) , Barbara Fayard (4) , Stéphanie Sorieul (5) , Corinne Chanéac (6) , Christine Carapito (7) , Thierry Rabilloud (8) , Aloïse Mabondzo (9) , Nathalie Herlin-Boime (10) , Marie Carrière (11)

1 SIS2M UMR 3299 - Service Interdisciplinaire sur les Systèmes Moléculaires et les Matériaux (ex SCM)
2 Inflammation intestinale pathologique de l'enfant
3 CPTP - Centre de Physiopathologie Toulouse Purpan
4 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
5 CENBG - Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires de Bordeaux Gradignan
6 LCMCP - Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Paris
7 LSMBO - Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse BioOrganique [Strasbourg]
8 LCBM - UMR 5249 - Laboratoire de Chimie et Biologie des Métaux
9 IBITECS - Institut de Biologie et de Technologies de Saclay
10 LFP - URA 2453 - Laboratoire Francis PERRIN
11 INAC - Institut Nanosciences et Cryogénie

BACKGROUND: TiO2 particles are commonly used as dietary supplements and may contain up to 36% of nano-sized particles (TiO2-NPs). Still impact and translocation of NPs through the gut epithelium is poorly documented. RESULTS: We show that, in vivo and ex vivo, agglomerates of TiO2-NPs cross both the regular ileum epithelium and the follicle-associated epithelium (FAE) and alter the paracellular permeability of the ileum and colon epithelia. In vitro, they accumulate in M-cells and mucus-secreting cells, much less in enterocytes. They do not cause overt cytotoxicity or apoptosis. They translocate through a model of FAE only, but induce tight junctions remodeling in the regular ileum epithelium, which is a sign of integrity alteration and suggests paracellular passage of NPs. Finally we prove that TiO2-NPs do not dissolve when sequestered up to 24 h in gut cells. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together these data prove that TiO2-NPs would possibly translocate through both the regular epithelium lining the ileum and through Peyer's patches, would induce epithelium impairment, and would persist in gut cells where they would possibly induce chronic damage.

Keywords: Titanium dioxide; Nanoparticle; Ingestion; Translocation; Dissolution; Accumulation; Gut; Toxicity; M-cells; Paracellular

Domains: Santé publique et épidémiologie

Emilie Brun, Frédérick Barreau, Giulia Veronesi, Barbara Fayard, Stéphanie Sorieul, et al.. Titanium dioxide nanoparticle impact and translocation through ex vivo, in vivo and in vitro gut epithelia.. Particle and Fibre Toxicology, 2014, 11 (1), pp.13. ⟨10.1186/1743-8977-11-13⟩. ⟨inserm-00971511⟩