| The effect of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on pulmonary surfactant function and ultrastructure (2009) | |||||||||||
Abstract | |||||||||||
| Background Pulmonary surfactant reduces surface tension and is present at the air-liquid interface in the alveoli where inhaled nanoparticles preferentially deposit. We investigated the effect of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanosized particles (NSP) and microsized particles (MSP) on biophysical surfactant function after direct particle contact and after surface area cycling in vitro. In addition, TiO2 effects on surfactant ultrastructure were visualized. Methods A natural porcine surfactant preparation was incubated with increasing concentrations (50-500 ug/ml) of TiO2 NSP or MSP, respectively. Biophysical surfactant function was measured in a pulsating bubble surfactometer before and after surface area cycling. Furthermore, surfactant ultrastructure was evaluated with a transmission electron microscope. Results TiO2 NSP, but not MSP, induced a surfactant dysfunction. For TiO2 NSP, adsorption surface tension (gammaads) increased in a dose-dependent manner from 28.2 +/- 2.3 mN/m to 33.2 +/- 2.3 mN/m (p | |||||||||||
Details der Publikation | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||