Abstract
In this work the effects of four different multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), including long carboxylated (L-COOH), short carboxylated (S-COOH), long aminated (L-NH2) and short aminated (S-NH2) ones, on the integrity of red blood cells, coagulation kinetics and activation of platelets were investigated with human whole blood. We found that the four MWCNTs induced different degrees of red blood cell damage as well as a mild level of platelet activation (10–25%). L-COOH and L-NH2 induced a higher level of platelet activation than S-COOH and S-NH2 respectively; meanwhile L-NH2 caused marked reductions in platelet viability. The presence of the four MWCNTs led to earlier fibrin formation, L-NH2 increased the clots hardness significantly, while L-COOH and S-NH2 made the clots become softer. It was concluded that the four MWCNTs affected blood coagulation process and the clots mechanical properties; they also altered the integrity of the red blood cells and the viability of the platelets, as well as induced platelets activation. The effects of MWCNTs depended on the size and chemistry of the nanotubes and the type of cells they contacted.
Highlights
Carbon nanotubes have been explored in novel delivery systems for drugs [1,2,3] or DNA/RNA [4,5,6,7], as imaging contrast agents [8], and as detection devices for capturing tumor cells from blood [9], which implies an interaction between carbon nanotubes and blood elements
Carbon nanotubes showed improvement effects on composite materials blood compatibility when they were used as fillers or in fabric forms [10,11,12,13,14], several groups have reported that single or multiwalled carbon nanotubes in particulate status could induce platelets activation and aggregation [15,16,17,18,19,20]; in which Simak group indicated the mechanism of carbon nanotubes-induced platelets activation, showing that pristine multiwalled carbon nanotubes activated platelets by causing depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores [19] as well as inducing extracellular Ca2+ influx [20]
Aminated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were obtained through amidation of L-COOH and S-COOH with 1, 6-diaminohexane, the average lengths were 945 nm and 266 nm for L-NH2 and S-NH2 respectively
Summary
Carbon nanotubes have been explored in novel delivery systems for drugs [1,2,3] or DNA/RNA [4,5,6,7], as imaging contrast agents [8], and as detection devices for capturing tumor cells from blood [9], which implies an interaction between carbon nanotubes and blood elements. The influences of carbon nanotubes on red blood cells and thrombus mechanical properties have been rarely reported [21]. One another issue is the coagulation kinetics that can provide crucial cues to imply the alternation of coagulation function in pathological conditions, which has been hardly reported in carbon nanotube-blood interactions. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of different length of MWCNTs with carboxylated or aminated surface in blood coagulation using well-characterized MWCNTs of the same source and compare these findings to effects reported in the literature. Variations of red blood cells morphology and thrombus mechanical properties induced by the different MWCNTs were addressed
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