Lanthanide-Doped ZnO Nanoparticles: Unraveling Their Role in Cytotoxicity, Antioxidant Capacity, and Nanotoxicology.
Jorge L Mejía-Méndez, Diego E Navarro-López, Araceli Sanchez-Martinez, Oscar Ceballos-Sanchez, Luis Eduardo Garcia-Amezquita, Naveen Tiwari, Karla Juarez-Moreno, Gildardo Sanchez-Ante, Edgar R López-Mena
Author Information
Jorge L Mejía-Méndez: Laboratory of Phytochemistry Research, Chemical Biological Sciences Department, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Ex Hacienda Sta. Catarina Mártir S/N, San Andrés Cholula 72810, Mexico. ORCID
Diego E Navarro-López: Tecnologicode Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Av. Gral. Ramón Corona No 2514, Colonia Nuevo México, Zapopan 45121, Mexico. ORCID
Araceli Sanchez-Martinez: Departamento de Ingeniería de Proyectos, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Exactas e Ingenierías (CUCEI), Universidad de Guadalajara, Av. José Guadalupe Zuno # 48, Industrial Los Belenes, Zapopan 45157, Mexico.
Oscar Ceballos-Sanchez: Departamento de Ingeniería de Proyectos, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Exactas e Ingenierías (CUCEI), Universidad de Guadalajara, Av. José Guadalupe Zuno # 48, Industrial Los Belenes, Zapopan 45157, Mexico.
Luis Eduardo Garcia-Amezquita: Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Av. Eugenio Garza Sada No 2501, Monterrey 64849, Mexico. ORCID
Naveen Tiwari: Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials (CiQUS), University of Santiago de Compostela, Rúa Jenaro de La Fuente S/N, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. ORCID
Karla Juarez-Moreno: Centro de Física Aplicada y Tecnología Avanzada (CFATA), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Querétaro 76230, Mexico. ORCID
Gildardo Sanchez-Ante: Tecnologicode Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Av. Gral. Ramón Corona No 2514, Colonia Nuevo México, Zapopan 45121, Mexico. ORCID
Edgar R López-Mena: Tecnologicode Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Av. Gral. Ramón Corona No 2514, Colonia Nuevo México, Zapopan 45121, Mexico. ORCID
This study used a sonochemical synthesis method to prepare (La, Sm)-doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs). The effect of incorporating these lanthanide elements on the structural, optical, and morphological properties of ZnO-NPs was analyzed. The cytotoxicity and the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation capacity of ZnO-NPs were evaluated against breast (MCF7) and colon (HT29) cancer cell lines. Their antioxidant activity was analyzed using a DPPH assay, and their toxicity towards nauplii was also evaluated. The results revealed that treatment with NPs resulted in the death of 10.559-42.546% and 18.230-38.643% of MCF7 and HT29 cells, respectively. This effect was attributed to the ability of NPs to downregulate ROS formation within the two cell lines in a dose-dependent manner. In the DPPH assay, treatment with (La, Sm)-doped ZnO-NPs inhibited the generation of free radicals at IC values ranging from 3.898 to 126.948 μg/mL. Against nauplii, the synthesized NPs did not cause death nor induce morphological changes at the tested concentrations. A series of machine learning (ML) models were used to predict the biological performance of (La, Sm)-doped ZnO-NPs. Among the designed ML models, the gradient boosting model resulted in the greatest mean absolute error (MAE) (MAE 9.027, R = 0.86). The data generated in this work provide innovative insights into the influence of La and Sm on the structural arrangement and chemical features of ZnO-NPs, together with their cytotoxicity, antioxidant activity, and in vivo toxicity.
