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The responses of immune cells to iron oxide nanoparticles
Author(s) -
Xu Yaolin,
Sherwood Jennifer A.,
Lackey Kimberly H.,
Qin Ying,
Bao Yuping
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of applied toxicology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.784
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1099-1263
pISSN - 0260-437X
DOI - 10.1002/jat.3282
Subject(s) - nanoparticle , polyethylenimine , viability assay , biophysics , iron oxide nanoparticles , immune system , nanotoxicology , materials science , incubation , tumor necrosis factor alpha , nanotechnology , chemistry , cell , immunology , biochemistry , biology , transfection , gene
Immune cells play an important role in recognizing and removing foreign objects, such as nanoparticles. Among various parameters, surface coatings of nanoparticles are the first contact with biological system, which critically affect nanoparticle interactions. Here, surface coating effects on nanoparticle cellular uptake, toxicity and ability to trigger immune response were evaluated on a human monocyte cell line using iron oxide nanoparticles. The cells were treated with nanoparticles of three types of coatings (negatively charged polyacrylic acid, positively charged polyethylenimine and neutral polyethylene glycol). The cells were treated at various nanoparticle concentrations (5, 10, 20, 30, 50 μg ml −1 or 2, 4, 8, 12, 20 μg cm −2 ) with 6 h incubation or treated at a nanoparticle concentration of 50 μg ml −1 (20 μg cm −2 ) at different incubation times (6, 12, 24, 48 or 72 h). Cell viability over 80% was observed for all nanoparticle treatment experiments, regardless of surface coatings, nanoparticle concentrations and incubation times. The much lower cell viability for cells treated with free ligands (e.g. ~10% for polyethylenimine) suggested that the surface coatings were tightly attached to the nanoparticle surfaces. The immune responses of cells to nanoparticles were evaluated by quantifying the expression of toll‐like receptor 2 and tumor necrosis factor‐α. The expression of tumor necrosis factor‐α and toll‐like receptor 2 were not significant in any case of the surface coatings, nanoparticle concentrations and incubation times. These results provide useful information to select nanoparticle surface coatings for biological and biomedical applications. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.