Contractility of Airway Smooth Muscle Cell in Response to Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles by Traction Force Microscopy

• Published in: Annals of biomedical engineering 2018-12, Vol.46 (12), p.2000-2011
• Main Authors: Lin, Feng, Zhang, Haihui, Huang, Jianyong, Xiong, Chunyang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biochemistry; Biocompatibility; Biological and Medical Physics; Biomechanics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Biomedicine; Biophysics; Cell Survival - drug effects; Cells, Cultured; Classical Mechanics; Clathrin; Cytoskeleton; Cytoskeleton - drug effects; Cytotoxicity; Endocytosis; Exposure; Lungs; Male; Mechanical properties; Mechanical tests; Microscopy; Microscopy, Atomic Force - methods; Muscle contraction; Muscle Contraction - drug effects; Muscles; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle - drug effects; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle - physiology; Nanoparticles; Nanoparticles - toxicity; Pathological effects; Potassium chloride; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Respiratory diseases; Respiratory function; Respiratory system; Respiratory tract; Smooth muscle; Toxicity; Trachea - cytology; Traction; Traction force; Viability; Zinc oxide; Zinc Oxide - toxicity; Zinc oxides
• ISSN: 0090-6964; 1573-9686
• DOI: 10.1007/s10439-018-2098-3

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) have been widely used in engineering and biomedicine. However, their adverse pathological effects and mechanisms, especially the biomechanical effects on respiratory system where airway smooth muscle cell (ASMC) contractility regulates the airway response and lung function, are not fully understood. Herein, we used traction force microscopy (TFM) method to investigate whether ZnO-NPs of different concentrations (0.1–10  μ g/mL) can alter ASMC contractility (basal and agonist-stimulated) after a short-term exposure and the potential mechanisms. We found that ZnO-NPs exposure led to a decrease of ASMC viability in a dose-dependent manner. Notably, basal contractility was enhanced when the concentration of ZnO-NPs was less than 0.1  μ g/mL and decreased afterwards, while KCl-stimulated contractility was reduced in all cases of ZnO-NPs treated groups. Cytoskeleton structure was also found to be significantly altered in ASMC with the stimulation of ZnO-NPs. More importantly, it seems that ZnO-NPs with low concentration (