Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Materials Biology Interactions, St, Gallen, Switzerland.
J Nanobiotechnology. 2010 Dec 15;8:31. doi: 10.1186/1477-3155-8-31.
During production and processing of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), they may be inhaled and may enter the pulmonary circulation. It is essential that interactions with involved body fluids like the pulmonary surfactant, the blood and others are investigated, particularly as these interactions could lead to coating of the tubes and may affect their chemical and physical characteristics. The aim of this study was to characterize the possible coatings of different functionalized MWCNTs in a cell free environment.
To simulate the first contact in the lung, the tubes were coated with pulmonary surfactant and subsequently bound lipids were characterized. The further coating in the blood circulation was simulated by incubating the tubes in blood plasma. MWCNTs were amino (NH2)- and carboxyl (-COOH)-modified, in order to investigate the influence on the bound lipid and protein patterns. It was shown that surfactant lipids bind unspecifically to different functionalized MWCNTs, in contrast to the blood plasma proteins which showed characteristic binding patterns. Patterns of bound surfactant lipids were altered after a subsequent incubation in blood plasma. In addition, it was found that bound plasma protein patterns were altered when MWCNTs were previously coated with pulmonary surfactant.
A pulmonary surfactant coating and the functionalization of MWCNTs have both the potential to alter the MWCNTs blood plasma protein coating and to determine their properties and behaviour in biological systems.
在多壁碳纳米管(MWCNTs)的生产和加工过程中,它们可能会被吸入并进入肺循环。重要的是要研究与涉及的体液(如肺表面活性剂、血液等)的相互作用,特别是因为这些相互作用可能导致管的涂层,并可能影响它们的化学和物理特性。本研究的目的是在无细胞环境中表征不同功能化 MWCNTs 的可能涂层。
为了模拟肺部的初次接触,将管用肺表面活性剂涂层,随后对结合的脂质进行了表征。通过在血浆中孵育管来模拟在血液循环中的进一步涂层。MWCNTs 被氨基(NH2)和羧基(-COOH)修饰,以研究对结合脂质和蛋白质模式的影响。结果表明,表面活性剂脂质与不同功能化的 MWCNTs 非特异性结合,而与血浆蛋白相比,其结合模式具有特征性。在随后在血浆中孵育后,结合的表面活性剂脂质模式发生了改变。此外,发现当 MWCNTs 先前用肺表面活性剂涂层时,结合的血浆蛋白模式发生了改变。
肺表面活性剂涂层和 MWCNTs 的功能化都有可能改变 MWCNTs 与血浆蛋白的涂层,并确定它们在生物系统中的性质和行为。