Recently, prof. Shen group published the research achievement "Ultrasmall iron oxide nanoparticles cause significant toxicity by specifically inducing acute oxidative stress to multiple organisms" (Part. Fibre Toxicol., 2022, 19:24) on the journal of “Particle and Fibre Toxicology” (IF: 9.1). Generally, it is believed that iron oxide is non-toxic and metabolizable, and has good biocompatibility in the body. However, the study indicated that the ultrasmall iron oxide exhibited strong toxicity in the body. By studying the distribution, the release rate of iron ion, Fenton reaction and free radical production of iron oxide with different particle sizes in the body, a possible toxicological mechanism was deduced: 1. Ultrasmall iron oxide stimulates cells to produce a variety of reactive oxygen species (ROS), including H2O2, 1O2, etc. While, particles with large size showed no similar effect; 2. Ultrasmall iron oxide released iron ions rapidly, which catalyzed the generation of highly toxic hydroxyl radicals (• OH), and caused multiple organs damage. The study of the toxicological mechanism not only provided an experimental basis for the clinical application of iron oxide as a contrast agent of magnetic resonance imaging and a chemotherapy drug, but also indicated a theoretical basis for the improvement of the ferroptosis theory. The journal “Particle and Fibre Toxicology” is a top journal of toxicology, which publishes 50 papers every year. The full text link of this paper is: https://particleandfibretoxicology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12989-022-00465-y.
Prof. Shen group focuses on the research of free radicals and inflammation, has published over 30 papers in journals of Angelw Chem. Int. Ed., Nano lett., Small, Biamaterials, Chem. Commun., Nanoscale, Biomater. Sci..
