Novel luminescence assay offers new possibilities for the risk assessment of silica nanoparticles

Abstract

Recent opinions of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP) of the European Commission emphasize the missing validation of in vitro methodologies for nanomaterials and suggest that a review of the safety of insoluble nanomaterials presently used is required. Therefore the influence of Fluospheres® and silica nanoparticles, representing the class of organic and inorganic nanoparticles, respectively, on the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay and the novel luminescence based Vialight® assay was tested. While LDH assay showed strong interactions with the tested silica particles, these problems may be overcome by novel methods like luminescence based assays. These findings suggest that even well characterized assay systems need a careful evaluation of the particle assay interactions when working with nanoparticles. Furthermore, particles based on the same material exhibit different biological properties depending on whether the material is used in micro- or nanometer range.

• Cytotoxicity
• silica
• nanoparticles
• LDH assay
• luminescence assay

Acknowledgements

For the provision of silica nanoparticles and for financial support we thank Merck KGaA. Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.