Fluoromica nanoparticle cytotoxicity in macrophages decreases with size and extent ofuptake

• Published in: International journal of nanomedicine 2015-03, Vol.2015 (default), p.2363-2375
• Main Authors: Tee N, Zhu Y, Mortimer GM, Martin DJ, Minchin RF
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1178-2013

Nicolin Tee,1 Yingdong Zhu,2 GysellM Mortimer,1 Darren J Martin,2 Rodney F Minchin11School of Biomedical Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; 2Australian Institute ofBioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaAbstract: Polyurethanes are widely used in biomedical devices such as heart valves, pacemaker leads, catheters, vascular devices, and surgical dressings because of their excellent mechanical properties and good biocompatibility. Layered silicate nanoparticles can significantly increase tensile strength and breaking strain of polyurethanes potentially increasing the life span of biomedical devices that suffer from wear in vivo. However, very little is known about how these nanoparticles interact with proteins and cells and how they might exert unwanted effects. A series of fluoromica nanoparticles ranging in platelet size from 90 to over 600 nm in diameter were generated from the same base material ME100 by high energy milling and differential centrifugation. The cytotoxicity of the resulting particles was dependent on platelet size but in a manner that is opposite to many other types of nanomaterials. For the fluoromicas, the smaller the platelet size, the less toxicity was observed. The small fluoromica nanoparticles (