Biocompatibility of designed MicNo-ZnO particles: Cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and phototoxicity in human skin keratinocyte cells

Abstract

Recently, designed platelet shaped micron particles that are composed of nano primary particles, called MicNo (= Micron + naNo) particles, have been developed to exploit the benefits of nano size, while removing the adverse effects of nanoparticles. It has been shown that MicNo-ZnO particles exhibit both micron and nanosized particle characteristics. Although physical and chemical properties of MicNo-ZnO particles have been studied, their biocompatibility has not yet been evaluated. Accordingly, the research objective of this study was to evaluate in vitro cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and phototoxicity behaviors of designed MicNo-ZnO particles over human epidermal keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells. MicNo-ZnO particles exhibit much less cytotoxicity with IC50 concentrations between 40 and 50 mu g/ml, genotoxicity above 40 mu g/ml and lower photo genotoxicity under UVA on HaCaT than the ZnO nanoparticles. Although their chemistries are the same, the source of this difference in toxicity values may be attributed to size differences between the particles that are probably due to their ability to penetrate into the cells. In the present study, the expansive and detailed in vitro toxicity tests show that the biocompatibility of MicNo-ZnO particles is much better than that of the ZnO nanoparticles. Consequently, MicNo-ZnO particles can be considered an important active ingredient alternative for sunscreen applications due to their safer characteristics with respect to ZnO nanoparticles.