The effect of titanium dioxide on the biochemical constituents of the brain of Zebrafish (Danio rerio): an FT-IR study.

During recent years, the use of nanoparticles (NPs) in commercial products and industrial applications has increased greatly. One of the most widely used nanoparticles is titanium dioxide (nTiO(2)). It is a very versatile compound that has many uses, depending on its particle size. In the present paper an attempt is made to study the effect of TiO(2) nanoparticles and its bulk material on the biochemical constituents of the brain of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) by using FT-IR technique. FT-IR spectra reveals significant differences in absorbance intensities between the control and TiO(2) exposed brain tissues, reflecting alterations on the major biochemical constituents such as proteins, lipids and nucleic acids in the brain tissues of D. rerio due to TiO(2) exposure. The results further reveal that TiO(2) nanoparticles are more toxic than their bulk counterparts. The higher ratio of integrated area of carbonyl-to-CH(2) peaks (1743 cm(-1):1458 cm(-1)) observed in the present study in the nTiO(2) exposed brain tissues suggests that lipids are being oxidized. Since oxidation can cause an increase in carbonyls and a degradation of lipids, both of these changes could be contributed to the elevated ratio. Further, the observed decreasing ratio of integrated areas of both 1458 cm(-1):1542 cm(-1) and 1743 cm(-1):1542 cm(-1) in the TiO(2) exposed tissues suggests that lipid degradation predominates over carbonyl formation. The observed changes in the biochemical constituents in the brain tissues of D. rerio could be due to the overproduction of ROS.