Pulmonary biosafety of Fe3O4 nanoparticles used in sports engineering on Kunming mice.

To investigate the potential oxidative damages of Fe3O4 nanoparticles to organisms, Kunming mice were intraperitoneally administrated with Fe3O4 nanoparticles for seven days at the doses of 5, 10, 20 and 40 mg·kg−1, respectively. The contents of ROS (reactive oxygen species), GSH (glutathione) and MDA (malondialdehyde) in the lung homogenate were measured to indicate the oxidative damage. Results showed that the contents of ROS and MDA increased gradually while GSH content decreased with the increase in exposure dose, and all the studied biomarkers changed in dose-response manners. When exposure dose exceeded 10 mg·kg−1, ROS content was significantly higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05); when exposure dose was over 20 mg·kg−1, MDA content was significantly higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05); when exposure dose was higher than 40 mg·kg−1, GSH content turned out to have significant difference compared with the control group (p < 0.05). It is demonstrated that Fe3O4 nanoparticles can increase the oxidative stress and cause oxidative damage in mouse lung at relatively high dose (≥20 mg·kg−1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]