Ceria nanoparticles distribution and oxidation state in Drosophila model organism for NP-based antioxidant treatment in degenerative disease

Cerium oxide (CeO2) and, in particular, ceria nanoparticles (CNPs) have recently emerged for their unique regenerative antioxidant activity due to their ability to reduce either reactive oxygen species (ROS), and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) . The antioxidant ability of the CNPs has been proven in vitro but it is not clear whether these nanoparticles could be effective also in vivo. In the case of a whole organism, CNPs have to be able to cross various biological barriers (i.e. blood brain barrier) in order to be effective on-site (i.e. endothelial cell or brain cells). Drosophila melanogaster is one of the most common animal models used to test potential therapeutic strategies: we here propose to assess whether the CNPs, ingested by the Drosophila fly, are distributed in different tissues/organs of this live model organism, and how the Ce oxidation state changes based on its distribution, by means of Ce-LIII-edge μXANES spectroscopy at ID21.