LANTHANUM OXIDE NANOPARTICLES INDUCES APOPTOSIS AND INFLAMMATION RESPONSE IN BEAS-2B BRONCHIAL EPITHELIAL CELLS AND A549 LUNG CANCER CELLS

Recently, the use of new rare earth metals such as nanosize lanthanum oxide has extensively increased, being used in optical glasses, batteries and alloys-Nonetheless, the risk of toxicity of lanthanum oxide nanoparticles (La(2)O(3)NPs) has not been studied before. In this experiment, we have determined the toxic and inflammatory response of La(2)O(3)NPs on BEAS-2B bronchial epithelial cells and A549 lung cancer cells for 24 hours. The BEAS-2B and A549 cells were exposed to La(2)O(3)NPs (0, 1, 5, 20, 40, 100 mu g/ml) for 24 hours. In this work, a comprehensive study on the toxicity of La(2)O(3)NPs by observing its effect on the morphology, viability, mortality and apoptosis in both cells was studied. La(2)O(3)NPs induced oxidative stress, interleukin (IL-6 and IL-8) and TNF-alpha in a dose-dependent manner in both cells but, significant effect on cell toxicity at higher concentrations was noticed. However, La(2)O(3)NPs were able to elicit multiple stress responses, secretion of proinflammatory cytokines in BEAS-2B and A549 cells. DNA damage was significant, as evaluated by single cell gel electrophoresis, and dose-dependent in both cells. Overall, our findings support La(2)O(3)NPs as a potentially toxic nanoparticle at the cellular level, and needs careful assessment before being used in medical and industrial sectors.