Biocompatibility Testing and Antioxidant Properties of Cerium Dioxide Nanoparticles in Human Nervous System Cells

Abstract

[Abstract] Cerium dioxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NP), or nanoceria, are versatile materials with interesting properties for industry and medicine fields, particularly redox properties and catalytic activity. Because of their distinctive features, they have gained high attention in biomedical and pharmacological research to be employed in drug delivery, tissue regeneration, radioprotection, or diagnostic imaging. However, previous works reported that nanoceria may also induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) under certain conditions, leading to cellular stress, cellular damage, or cell death. In this study, the effects of CeO2 NP on cell viability and morphology as well as their influence on oxidative stress (both oxidant and ROS scavenging capacities) were investigated in nervous system cells (SH-SY5Y neuronal and A172 glial cells) treated with a wide range of CeO2 NP concentrations (1–100 µg/mL) for several treatment times. Results obtained showed that, despite being stable in time and effectively internalized by both cell types, CeO2 NP did not produce significant decrease in viability, evaluated by MTT assay, morphological alterations, or intrinsic cell-free ROS, but they generated cellular ROS limited to longer exposure periods. Furthermore, CeO2 NP demonstrated a certain intrinsic ability to scavenge ROS generated by H2O2 in both tested cell types, more pronounced in neuronal cells. These results confirm the good biocompatibility of nanoceria on human nervous system cells and support further exploring their potential use in biomedicine field, particularly for those therapeutic and diagnostic applications related to the nervous system.