EFFECTS OF INHALED TiO2 NANOTUBES ON LUNG TISSUE AND SERUM BIOCHEMICAL INDEXES OF MICE

To evaluate the acute lung toxicity and the effect on serum biochemical indexes of inhaled TiO2 nanotubes , healthy and adult Kunming mice are exposed to aerosols of TiO2nanotubes in a sealed chamber , the concentration of which is 250mg / m 3 while another group of mice are exposed to room air only served as control.The blood , alveolar lavaged fluid and lungs of the mice are collected and examined after exposed for 7 , 14and 28d , respectively.The serum analysis shows that glucose ( Glu ) values with 7dexposure , alanine aminotransferase ( ALT ) and aspartate aminotransferase ( AST ) activities with 28dinhalation , and total bile acid ( TBA ) values with 7 , 28d as well as the creatine kinase ( CK ) levels with 28dexposure are significantly different from those of controls ( P< 0.05 ) .The pathological findings exhibit that more TiO 2 nanotubes are found in the interstitium of pulmonary alveoli with the experimental time prolonged.The results suggest that TiO 2 nanotubes do produce adverse responses to the lung and serum biochemical indexes of mice.Moreover , the responses become severer with the exposed-time prolonged.