Cytotoxicity and Uptake of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Leading to Enhanced Inflammatory Cytokines Levels in Murine Macrophages: Comparison with Bulk Zinc Oxide

The current evolution of nanotechnology and its exponentially increasing domain encompassing new sectors have also led to the debate about its safety issues. Our immune system plays a major role in safeguarding the host against various foreign assaults and macrophage activity which forms the first line of defense, is highly dependent on the size of the foreign particles. Therefore, the current investigation was undertaken to compare the impact of ZnO nanoparticles vis a vis bulk size ZnO particles, on the activity of murine macrophages. The study reveals that nanoparticles are more potent in instigating the proinflammatory cytokine production by macrophages. It also indicates that small size attribute of nanoparticles may help them in evading the macrophage response.