TURKISH JOURNAL OF BIOLOGY, cilt.38, sa.1, ss.31-39, 2014 (SCI-Expanded)
Nanogenotoxicity is an emergent field, relevant for estimating the potential genotoxic risk of nanomaterials. In this study we investigated the genotoxic potential of zinc oxide (ZnO, <35 and 50 nm) and titanium dioxide (TiO2, 21 and 50 nm) nanoparticles (NPs) in the nuclei of Allium cepa root meristem cells by using a modified alkaline comet assay. ZnO and TiO2 NPs were supplied to cells treated in vitro at 3 different concentrations (10, 100, and 1000 mu g/mL). For the comet assay, our results indicate a dose-dependent increment in DNA damage in cells exposed to 100 and 1000 mu g/mL of ZnO NPs (<= 35 and 50 nm) for percentage of DNA tail (%DNA tail). On the other hand, the results from TiO2 NPs indicated that the DNA damage in the cells exposed to only the highest concentration (1000 mu g/mL) of TiO2 NPs (21 nm) is statistically significant in comparison to the control cells, while all concentrations of TiO2 NPs (50 nm) are stat