Effects of selenium oxide nanoparticles on the morphofunctional state of the liver: experimental data

Copper smelters are the sources of emission of complex aerosols containing, inter alia, selenium-containing nanoparticles (NPs). It is very difficult to adequately estimate the hazard posed by such particles since available data on them are scarce and have been obtained in comparatively few experimental studies with rather contradicting results. The aim of our study was to determine toxic health effects of selenium-containing nanoparticles more precisely with a focus on liver as a target organ. Liver toxicity following exposure to suspended selenium oxide nanoparticles was investigated in a sub-chronic experiment on outbred male albino rats. The suspension was prepared by laser ablation of 99%-pure selenium plates. We examined ultrastructural changes by electron microscopy, did cytological and histological analyses of the liver, biochemical blood testing and metabolomic blood screening. We observed lesions in the liver and inhibited secretory functions at various levels, from molecular to organismic, in the exposed animals. The microscopic examination showed that the number of normal and normal-vesicular mitochondria in liver cells went down by 7.78 %, p function show_eabstract() { $('#eabstract1').hide(); $('#eabstract2').show(); $('#eabstract_expand').hide(); }