Elimination of oxidative stress and genotoxicity of biosynthesized titanium dioxide nanoparticles in rats via supplementation with whey protein-coated thyme essential oil.

The green synthesis of metal nanoparticles is growing dramatically; however, the toxicity of these biosynthesized particles against living organisms is not fully explored. Therefore, this study was designed to synthesize and characterize TiO2-NPs, encapsulation and characterization thyme essential oil (ETEO), and determination of the bioactive constituents of ETEO using GC-MS and evaluate their protective role against TiO2-NPs-induced oxidative damage and genotoxicity in rats. Six groups of rats were treated orally for 30 days including the control group, TiO2-NPs (300 mg/kg b.w)-treated group, ETEO at low (50 mg/kg b.w) or high dose (100 mg/kg b.w)-treated groups, and TiO2-NPs plus ETEO at the two doses-treated groups. Blood and tissues were collected for different assays. The GC-MS results indicated the presence of 21 compounds belonging to phenols, terpene derivatives, and heterocyclic compounds. The synthesized TiO2-NPs were 45 nm tetragonal particles with a zeta potential of -27.34 mV; however, ETEO were 119 nm round particles with a zeta potential of -28.33 mV. TiO2-NPs administration disturbs the liver and kidney markers, lipid profile, cytokines, oxidative stress parameters, the apoptotic and antioxidant hepatic mRNA expression, and induced histological alterations in the liver and kidney tissues. ETEO could improve all these parameters in a dose-dependent manner. It could be concluded that ETEO is a promising candidate for the protection against TiO2-NPs and can be applied safely in food applications.