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Metal Nanoparticle Pollutants Interfere with Pulmonary Surfactant Function In Vitro

Mandeep Singh Bakshi ^*   ||, Lin Zhao ^*, Ronald Smith , Fred Possmayer ^*  and Nils O. Petersen   ^¶

^* Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Department of Biochemistry, Department of Biology, and Department of Chemistry, University of Western Ontario, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, Ontario, Canada; ^¶ National Institute for Nanotechnology, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; and ^|| Department of Chemistry, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Fred Possmayer, Depts. of Obs/Gyn and Biochemistry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, DSB 5009, London, ON, Canada N6A 5C1. E-mail: fpossmay{at}uwo.ca.

Reported associations between air pollution and pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases prompted studies on the effects of gold nanoparticles (Au NP) on pulmonary surfactant function. Low levels (3.7 mol % Au/lipid, 0.98% wt/wt) markedly inhibited adsorption of a semisynthetic pulmonary surfactant (dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC)/palmitoyl-oleoyl-phosphatidylglycerol/surfactant protein B (SP-B); 70:30:1 wt %). Au NP also impeded the surfactant's ability to reduce surface tension () to low levels during film compression and to respread during film expansion. Transmission electron microscopy showed that Au NP generated by a seed-growth method were spherical with diameters of 15 nm. Including palmitoyl-oleoyl-phosphatidylglycerol appeared to coat the NP with at least one lipid bilayer but did not affect NP shape or size. Similar overall observations occurred with dimyristoyl phosphatidylglycerol. Dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylglycerol was less effective in NP capping, although similar sized NP were formed. Including SP-B (1% wt/wt) appears to induce the formation of elongated strands of interacting threads with the fluid phosphatidylglycerols (PG). Including DPPC resulted in formation of aggregated, less spherical NP with a larger size distribution. With DPPC, strand formation due to SP-B was not observed. Agarose gel electrophoresis studies demonstrated that the aggregation induced by SP-B blocked migration of PG-coated NP. Migration was also influenced by the fluidity of the PGs. It is concluded that Au NP can interact with and sequester pulmonary surfactant phospholipids and, if inhaled from the atmosphere, could impede pulmonary surfactant function in the lung.

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				C. Muhlfeld, B. Rothen-Rutishauser, F. Blank, D. Vanhecke, M. Ochs, and P. Gehr Interactions of nanoparticles with pulmonary structures and cellular responses Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol, May 1, 2008; 294(5): L817 - L829. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]