Qualitative and quantitative analysis on cellular uptake of cerium oxide nanoparticles in the human lung cancer cells

With the fast development of nanotechnology, the nanomaterials start to cause peopleÂ’s attention for potential toxic effects. In this work, the effects of ceriumoxide (CeO2) nanoparticles on the human lung cancer cells were investigated.As an indicator of membrane damage, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was quantitatively assessed. Flowcytometer (FCM) and inductively coupled plasmamass spectrometry (ICP-MS) were used for qualitative and quantitative analysis on cellular uptake of CeO2 nanoparticles, respectively. The results demonstrated that CeO2 nanoparticles can enter cells through cellmembrane and did not induce significant lysosomalmembrane destabilization. The intensity of the side scattered light revealed that the nanoparticles were taken up in the cells dose dependently. The quantitative analysis on cellular uptake of CeO2 nanoparticles could be detected by ICP-MS. These methods could be used for the initial screening of the uptake potential of nanoparticles as an index of nanotoxicity.