Fe₃O₄ Nanopowders: Genomic and Apoptotic Evaluations on A549 Lung Adenocarcinoma Cell Line

The magnetite nanoparticles are progressively used in a wide range of biological applications. In the present study, we purposed to show apoptosis-inducing ability of Fe₃O₄ nanopowders on A549 cells. In addition, the toxic effects of Fe₃O₄ nanopowders were researched on L929 cells. The cytotoxicity of Fe₃O₄ nanopowders were evaluated on A549 and L929 cells by MTT assay and inhibited cell proliferation by time and dose-dependent manner on A549 cells but was not toxic on L929 cells. According to these findings, IC₃₀ value of Fe₃O₄ nanopowders was determined as 5 µM. The early and late apoptotic cells were detected by Annexin V-FITC/PI assay using IC₃₀ concentration of Fe₃O₄ nanopowders. Furthermore, The IC₃₀ value of Fe₃O₄ nanopowders was not effective in the activation of caspase-3 but was effective on loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. The apoptotic index of A549 cells was investigated and found out to increase by IC₃₀ value of Fe₃O₄ nanopowders using TUNEL, BrdU, Bcl-2 immunocytochemical assays. The upregulated and downregulated genes were profiled and the presence of some apoptotic genes was determined with administration of IC₃₀ value of Fe₃O₄ nanopowders by microarray assay. This work suggests that Fe₃O₄ nanopowders could be a good candidate for therapy of lung adenocarcinoma cells.