Subchronic exposure of titanium dioxide nanoparticles to hairless rat skin

The evaluation of the biological effects of industrial nanoparticles on the skin is necessary for their risk assessment. To clarify the influence of TiO2 nanoparticles on the skin, we carried out a subchronic exposure study of TiO2 nanoparticles to hairless rat skin. W/O emulsion containing 10 wt% TiO2 nanoparticles and control emulsion was applied to the dorsal skin of Hairless Wistar Yagi rats once a day for a maximum period of 56 consecutive days. After 2, 4 and 8 weeks, skin samples were taken from the exposed skin area. Histopathologically, the particles were only located in the stratum corneum layer of epidermis and follicular epithelium. Focal parakeratosis and spongiosis were observed in the epidermis. Transmission electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) analysis failed to show TiO2 nanoparticles in the viable skin areas. There was no evidence of TiO2 penetration in the viable skin areas. In addition, titanium contents in several organs were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. Increased titanium concentration was detected in lung samples of the TiO2 emulsion-treated groups after 8 weeks. It was most likely that the presence of TiO2 in the lungs was not caused by direct absorption of nanoparticles from the skin but was due to rats inhaling the nanoparticle. We did not find any obvious evidences of nano-TiO2 particle skin penetration using several morphological methods after the subchronic exposure. We believe that the influence of subchronic exposure of TiO2 is not significant based on our study.