A facile method for the assessment of DNA damage induced by UV-activated nanomaterials

Abstract

Fluorescent microscopy observation of gene-size DNA (T4 phage DNA or λ phage DNA) was used to assess DNA damage induced by UV irradiation in the presence of nanomaterials, such as QDs (quantum dots: CdSe/ZnS semiconductor nanoparticles), the water-soluble fullerene derivative C₆₀(OH)_n (n = 6–12) and titanium oxide nanoparticles of 25 nm in diameter. The magnitude of DNA damage could be simply evaluated based on the degree of shortening of the stretched DNA image. This method showed that DNA damage was amplified by the action of QDs under irradiation by C-band (λ_max = 254 nm) or B-band (λ_max = 303 nm) UV. Smaller QDs that emitted higher-energy fluorescence (λ^em_max = 565 nm) induced more severe damage than medium- and larger-size QDs that emitted longer-wavelength fluorescence (λ^em_max = 605 and 705 nm, respectively). The fullerene derivative and TiO₂ nanoparticles caused DNA damage even under irradiation by A-band UV (λ_max = 365 nm) and showed more severe DNA damage than QDs under similar conditions.