Ana Isabel Barrado

Comparative cytotoxicity induced by bulk and nanoparticulated ZnO in the fish and human hepatoma cell lines PLHC-1 and Hep G2

Abstract The increasing presence of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) in consumer products may be having a dramatic impact in aquatic environments. The evaluation of ZnO NP toxicity represents a great challenge. This study aimed at evaluating the cytotoxic effect of micro- and nanosized ZnO in a fish and a mammalian hepatoma cell line. A detailed characterisation of the particles in exposure media showed that ZnO NPs formed large aggregates. ZnO cytotoxicity was evaluated with a battery of in vitro assays including LUCS, a new approach based on DNA alteration measurements. In fish cells, ZnO NP aggregates contributed substantially to the cytotoxic effects whereas toxicity in the human cells appeared to be mainly produced by the dissolved fraction. ROS production did not contribute to the observed cytotoxicity. This work also showed that measuring concentrations of NPs is essential to understand the mechanisms underlying their toxicity.

Measurements of Hydroxylated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Atmospheric Aerosols from an Urban Site of Madrid (Spain)

This paper describes an analytical methodology for the separation and quantitative determination by HPLC with fluorescence detection of hydroxylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OH-PAHs) and their parents PAHs in atmospheric urban aerosol. The sampling site is located in the outskirts of Madrid and can be considered an open urban area. The aim of this work was the optimization of analytical methods, applied in several samples and characterize the concentration levels of selected PAHs-OH and PAHs. The preliminary results show concentrations between 2.5–53.2 pg/m for 2-OHPhenathrene (2-OHPH) and 27.8–34.5 pg/m for 1-OHPyrene (1-OHPYR).