RESUMO
The aim of the present study was to explore the toxic effects and underlying mechanisms of nickel ions during therapeutic nickelbased alloytreatment in congenital heart disease by investigating the metalinduced cytotoxicity to the human monocytederived macrophage cell line THP1. THP1 cells were treated with NiCl2·6H2O (25, 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800 µM) for 24, 48 and 72 h, respectively. MTT was applied to detect THP1 cell proliferation following NiCl2 treatment. Apoptosis of THP1 cells was quantified using flow cytometry. Illumina sequencing was used for screening the associated genes, whose mRNA expression levels were further confirmed by quantitative realtime polymerase chain reaction. High concentrations of nickel ions had a significant suppressive effect on cell proliferation at the three concentrations investigated (200, 400 and 800 µM). Treatment with nickel ions (25400 µM) for 48 h reduced cell viability in a dosedependent manner. The mRNA expression levels of RELB, FIGF, SPI1, CXCL16 and CRLF2 were significantly increased following nickel treatment. The results of the present study suggested that nickel ions exert toxic effects on THP1 cell growth, which may indicate toxicity of the nickel ion during treatment of congenital heart disease. The identification of genes modified by the toxic effects of nickel on THP1 cells (EPOR, RELB, FIGF, SPI1, TGFß1, CXCL16 and CRLF2) may aid in the development of interventional measures for the treatment/prevention of nickel ionassociated toxic effects during the treatment of congenital heart disease.