Assessing combined toxic effects of tetracycline and P25 titanium dioxide nanoparticles using Allium cepa bioassay

Abstract

• UVA pre-irradiation to TiO₂ NPs enhanced its toxicity toward plant A. cepa.

• UVA TiO₂ NPs increased intracellular ROS, resulting in more cell damage.

• Cell death enhanced cell permeability and increased uptake of NPs.

• Being highly toxic (EC₅₀ = 0.097 µmol/L), TC did not increase ROS generation.

• Even at a low dose, TC enhanced the toxic potential of TiO₂ NPs significantly.

Usage of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂ NPs) and tetracycline (TC) has increased significantly in the present era. This leads to their release and accumulation in the environment. Both the compounds, individually, can have adverse toxic effects on the plants. Their binary mixtures can increase this degree of damage. The present study aimed to evaluate the toxicity of both the contaminants in individual and binary mixtures in Allium cepa. Further, the toxicity of TiO₂ NPs upon UVA pre-irradiation was also measured. Results showed that UVA pre-irradiated NPs (UVA-TiO₂ NPs) had a significant decrease in cell viability than their non-irradiated counterparts (NI-TiO₂), denoting an increase in photocatalytic activity upon UVA pre-irradiation. Very low concentrations of TC (EC₁₀ = 0.016 µmol/L) mixed with TiO₂ NPs significantly increased the toxicity for both UVA-TiO₂ and NI-TiO₂ NPs. Intracellular ROS generation was significantly high for UVA-TiO₂ NPs. However, TC did not have any effects on ROS production. Both the compounds exhibited genotoxic potential in A. cepa. Different chromosomal abnormalities like anaphase bridges, telophase bridges, laggard chromosomes, binucleate cells, etc. were observed. The binary mixture of UVA-TiO₂ NPs and TC showed the highest chromosomal aberrations (64.0%±1.26%) than the mixture with NI-TiO₂ or the individual contaminants. This decreased significantly after recovery (46.8%±1.92%), denoting the self-repair processes. This study proved that UVA-TiO₂ NPs were more toxic and could be enhanced further when mixed with a sub-lethal concentration of TC. This work will help to assess the risk of both compounds in the environment.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Binary toxicity / Cell viability / Mitotic index / Chromosomal aberration / Reactive oxygen species / Nanoparticles internalization

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