Novel Polymeric Nanocarriers Reduced Zinc and Doxycycline Toxicity in the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans Toledano Pérez, Manuel Toledano Osorio, Manuel Navarro Hortal, María Dolores Varela López, Alfonso Osorio Ruiz, Raquel Quiles Morales, José Luis Dentistry Doxycycline Fertility Growth Lethality Metabolism Nanoparticles The objective was to evaluate the toxicity of zinc- and doxycycline-loaded polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism. These NPs are composed of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and methacrylic acid. NPs were loaded with doxycycline (D-NPs) and zinc (Zn-NPs) by chemical adsorption, and loading efficacy was demonstrated. Worm death rate in a concentration-response curve basis was calculated for lethality. Metabolism was evaluated through pharyngeal pumping assay. Body length measurements, brood size and egg lays were used to gauge growth, reproduction and fertility respectively. Intracellular hydrogen peroxide levels were determined to assess the reactive oxygen species production. One-way ANOVA and Bonferroni were used for comparisons (p < 0.05). Tested NPs at the highest dosage did not affect lethality or worm metabolism, expressed in terms of death rate and pharyngeal pumping per minute, respectively. Zn-NPs slightly increased worm growth. The concentration of the intracellular hydrogen peroxide levels was the lowest in the D-NPs group. The distinct NPs and concentrations employed were shown to be non-toxic for in situ administration of zinc and doxycycline, reducing the harmful effects of these compounds. 2020-01-09T13:47:49Z 2020-01-09T13:47:49Z 2019-11-14 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Toledano, M., Toledano-Osorio, M., Navarro-Hortal, M. D., Varela-López, A., Osorio, R., & Quiles, J. L. (2019). Novel Polymeric Nanocarriers Reduced Zinc and Doxycycline Toxicity in the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Antioxidants, 8(11), 550. http://hdl.handle.net/10481/58609 10.3390/antiox8110550 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España MDPI