The Shanghai Academy of Health Sciences found that food-based titanium dioxide nanoparticles affect the body's immune function through macrophages

China Coatings Online News: On July 3, international academic journal Nanooxicology published online a research paper by Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles Prime a Specific Activation State of macrophages from the Shanghai Institute of Life Sciences (In the Field of Population Health) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which found that titanium dioxide nanoparticles alter the active state of macrophages and break the body's immune balance by relying on TLR4.Titanium dioxide, commonly known as titanium dioxide white powder, is a common white, but also excellent photocatalyst and anti-UV agents, widely used in cosmetics, food additives, drug carriers, functional fiber, high-grade plastics, coatings, electronic ceramics and catalysts and other products. In the food industry, titanium dioxide is widely used as a food additive, food packaging material or dietary supplement. The study found that about 10-36% of titanium dioxide particles in sweet food products such as sweets such as sweets, chewing gum and cakes were at the nanoscale. The potential safety of nanomaterials has raised concerns because their unique nano-effects (size effects, surface effects, etc.) make their toxic characteristics significantly different from 20 micron-scale materials. Therefore, it is of great significance to evaluate the health effects of dietary intake of titanium dioxide nanoparticles.In this work, Ph.D. student Huang Chao and other researchers simulated the situation of titanium dioxide from food sources, observed the health effects of long-term low-dose intake, and found that long-term feeding mice containing 0.1% of titanium dioxide nanoparticles of food, its macrophages tend to reduce the ability to degenerate, tend to promote inflammation, in-body experiments further confirmed this effect. In the LPS-induced sepsis model, the body reaction of mice fed titanium dioxide nanoparticles was more intense, and the damage caused to the body was more obvious. In the model of TLR4 knock-off and non-TLR4 dependence, titanium dioxide nanoparticles did not produce significant adverse effects. The above results show that titanium dioxide nanoparticles mainly induce abnormal activity of macrophages in the way of TLR4 dependence, which may have adverse health effects on the body under the conditions of external infection and other stimuli. The research was supported by funding from the State Fund Committee, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission.
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