The toxic effects of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on plasma glucose metabolism are more severe in developing mice than in adult mice.

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO NPs) are authorized food additives, and children have the highest exposure. Therefore, children are likely more susceptible to the adverse effects of TiO NPs than adults. Previous study showed that oral administration of 50 mg/kg body weight (bw) TiO NPs increase plasma glucose in mice. However, few studies have directly compared the adverse effects of exposure to TiO NPs on plasma glucose metabolism of different age groups. In this study, the developing (age 3 weeks) and adult mice (age 10 weeks) were orally administered with 50 mg/kg bw TiO NPs per day. The TiO NPs induced hyperglycemia earlier in the developing mice than in the adult mice. Then mechanisms were analyzed after mice were oral administration of TiO2 NPs for 8 weeks and 26 weeks, respectively. Results showed that the treatment with TiO NPs activated xenobiotic biodegradation in livers of both developing and adult mice at the early stage. However, only in the developing mice, TiO NPs induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in livers and increased reactive oxygen species in livers and sera in the early stage. The ER stress and ROS activated an inflammation response and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways, thereby inducing insulin resistance in the livers of developing mice at the early stage. The response of the adult mice was delayed, and these changes were observed in the late stage of the study. The results of this study all suggest that children are more susceptible than adults to the toxicity of orally administered TiO NPs.