Nickel Nanoparticles Induced Nephrotoxicity in Rats: Influence of Particle Size

Received: Revised: Accepted: Published online: October 21, 2018 May 28, 2019 August 21, 2019 October 15, 2019 Since nickel compounds are carcinogenic and strong toxicants to the various organs, it is necessary to carry out extra in vivo trials on Nickel nanoparticles (NiNPs) to demonstrate their influences on health pragmatically. The current study was executed to scrutinize the expected undesired impacts of various sizes of NiNPs on renal nephrons of rats. To meet the trial requirements, a total of 24 male Wistar rats, each 12 weeks old were allocated randomly into four groups (n=6). Group 1 was designed as the control (only given sodium chloride 0.9%) while the other three groups (2, 3 and 4) of the experimental animals were exposed to intraperitonial NiNPs (20mg/kg B.W) daily at three sizes (20 nm, 40 nm and 70 nm) for 28 days. Inflammatory cells aggregations of infiltrated leucocytes and degeneration of the proximal tubular cells were the most frequent histopathological features in the NiNPs treated groups which indicates a NiNPs-induced nephrotoxicity. Biochemical analysis of tissue malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and serum creatinine were performed. MDA level was significantly elevated (P≤0.05) in all NiNPs treated groups as compared to the control group. All the three NiNPs groups revealed a significant tissue SOD and serum creatinine elevation as compared to the control group (P≤0.05). Furthermore, a significant increase in the p53 positive kidney tubular cells was detected in NiNPs treated groups as compared to control group (P≤0.05). All alterations above in the treated rats were size dependent; the smallest NiNPs being more toxic than the largest ones. ©2019 PVJ. All rights reserved