PUBLICATION

Double-Sided Nano-ZnO: Superior Antibacterial Properties and Induced Hepatotoxicity in Zebrafish Embryos

Authors
He, M., Li, X., Yu, L., Deng, S., Gu, N., Li, L., Jia, J., Li, B.
ID
ZDB-PUB-220325-10
Date
2022
Source
Toxics   10(3): (Journal)
Registered Authors
Li, Li
Keywords
NAFLD, Nano-ZnO, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, carbon dots, endoplasmic reticulum stress, hepatotoxicity, oxidative stress, zebrafish
MeSH Terms
none
PubMed
35324769 Full text @ Toxics
Abstract
Zinc oxide nanoparticles (Nano-ZnO) have been widely used in the food, cosmetics, and biomedical fields due to their excellent antibacterial and antioxidant properties. However, with the widespread application of Nano-ZnO, Nano-ZnO inevitably enters the environment and living organisms, causing harm to human health and ecosystem safety. Therefore, the biosafety and toxicological issues of Nano-ZnO are gradually being emphasized. Our study found that Nano-ZnO has superior antibacterial properties compared to ofloxacin in the fight against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Given that ofloxacin can inhibit bacterial-induced inflammation, we constructed a model of bacterial inflammation using S. aureus in zebrafish. We found that Nano-ZnO inhibited the NF-κB-mediated inflammatory signaling pathway. However, in the process, we found that Nano-ZnO caused hepatic steatosis in zebrafish. This suggested that Nano-ZnO had a certain hepatotoxicity, but did not affect liver development. Subsequently, we investigated the mechanism of hepatotoxicity produced by Nano-ZnO. Nano-ZnO triggered oxidative stress in the liver by generating ROS, which then induced endoplasmic reticulum stress to occur. It further activated srebp and its downstream genes fasn and acc1, which promoted the accumulation of fatty acid synthesis and the development of steatosis, leading to the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). To address the hepatotoxicity of Nano-ZnO, we added carbon dots for the treatment of NAFLD. The carbon dots were found to normalize the steatotic liver. This provided a new strategy to address the hepatotoxicity caused by Nano-ZnO. In this work, we systematically analyzed the antibacterial advantages of Nano-ZnO in vivo and in vitro, explored the mechanism of Nano-ZnO hepatotoxicity, and proposed a new method to treat Nano-ZnO hepatotoxicity.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Show all Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping