In-vitro assessment of new methods for cell massive uptake based on nanoparticles transfection

New nanotechnological products containing nano-sized particles (NPs) are already present in the market, but the results of nanotoxicological tests are not exhaustive and sometimes contradictory. The cytotoxicity tests ruled by chemical standards appear inadequate for the NPs very peculiar adhesive superficial properties that make their handling difficult and not immediately controllable. The present study highlights a new strategy to set up meaningful in-vitro tests to assess cells massive NPs uptake. A new approach was developed to obtain homogenous dispersion of NPs in-vitro. A lipid-based transfection technique (lipofection) was evaluated in two different cell lines: a mouse fibroblast embryonic cell line (NIH/3T3) and a human hepatoblastoma derived cells (HEP-G2), using gold (Au), iron (Fe3O4), cobalt oxide (Co) and cerium oxide (CeO2) NPs. The results indicate that after massive entrance of NPs due the lipofection technique, cells showed a stimulus in the proliferation, except for Co NPs. The technique may represent an innovative approach to perform toxicity tests, inducing a homogeneous NPs exposure. Further studies should be carried out to validate and improve this method.