Sebastian Riedle

Citation

Thesis Title
Dietary titanium dioxide particles and intestinal health

Read article at Massey Research Online:

Titanium dioxide particles, used as white colourant in processed foods, are known to accumulate in macrophages (phagocytic immune cells) in the small intestine of humans. Mr Riedle investigated whether this contributed to the development of Crohn''sdisease, a type of inflammatory bowel disease. He used a Crohn''sdisease mouse model to assess the impact of titanium dioxide on cultured macrophages. In further experiments, mice were fed a diet that contained titanium dioxide to mimic the situation of oral particle intake by humans. Titanium dioxide exposure stimulated cultured macrophages to become more inflammatory. Similar to humans, in mice fed titanium dioxide the particles accumulated in phagocytic cells of the intestine. However, this did not trigger Crohn''sdisease-like symptoms.  Mr Riedle found that titanium dioxide particles accumulated in the intestine and could affect macrophage function, but did not cause intestinal inflammation in his model.

Supervisors
Distinguished Professor Harjinder Singh
Dr Don Otter
Dr Jonathan Powell
Dr Laetitia Pele
Dr Nicole Roy