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Pure ultra-fine carbon particles do not exert pro-coagulation and inflammatory effects on microvascular endothelial cells

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Abstract

Pro-thrombotic and inflammatory changes play an important role in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, resulting from short-term exposure to fine particulate air-pollution. Part of those effects has been attributed to the ultra-fine particles (UFPs) that pass through the lung and directly contact blood-exposed and circulating cells. Despite UFP-induced platelet activation, it is unclear whether the penetrated particles exert any direct effect on endothelial cells. While exposure levels are boosting as a result of world-wide increases in economic development and desertification, which create more air-polluted regions, as well as increase in demands for synthetic UFPs in medicine and various industries, further studies on the health effects of these particles are required. In this study, human pulmonary and cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (MECs) have been exposed to 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 μg/ml suspensions of either a natural (carbon black) or a synthetic (multi-walled carbon nano-tubes) type of UFPs, in vitro. As a result, no changes in the levels of coagulation factor VIII, Von Willebrand factor, Interleukin 8, and P-selectin measured in the cells’ supernatant were observed prior to and 6, 12, and 24 h after exposure. In parallel, the spatio-temporal effect of UFPs on cardiac MECs was evaluated by Transmission Electron Microscopy. Despite phagocytic uptake of pure UFPs observed on cellular sections of the treated cells, Weibel-Palade bodies remained intact in shape and similar in number when compared with the untreated cells. Our work shows that carbon itself is a non-toxic carrier for endothelial cells.

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Abbreviations

FVIII:

Coagulation factor VIII

FVIII:C:

FVIII activity

HCMEC:

Human cardiac microvascular endothelial cells

HPMEC:

Human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells

IL-8:

Interleukin 8

LOD:

Limit of detection

PM:

Particulate matter

PMA:

Phorbol-12-myristate 13-acetate

UFP:

Ultra-fine particle

VWF:

Von-Willebrand factor

WPB:

Weibel-Palade body

TEM:

Transmission electron microscopy

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Mrs. Zahra Ramezani for her technical support with TEM at Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics Department of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Funding

This work is supported by Zanjan University of Medical Sciences (ZUMS) grant number A-12-776-2 and Iran’s National Institute for Medical Research Development (NIMAD) grant number 940200.

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Authors

Contributions

HD, MH, and TSH wrote the manuscript. HD, ZP, LS, and RN performed/analyzed the experiments. MH, AB, MJ, and TSH contributed to the study design and data analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tina Shahani.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

The study was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration and approved by Zanjan University of Medical Sciences Ethics Committee (ZUMS.REC.1394.132; 01-Sept 2015).

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Not applicable.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Figure S1

Effect of CB and MWCNTs on endothelial cell viability assayed by MTT test. Cells were incubated with 10 and 100 μg/ml of CB or MWCNTs for 24 h. The values for cell viability represent the mean of three experiments shown as percentage to the untreated cells, indicated as controls. Error bars represent standard deviation (SD). The abbreviations are: CB (Carbon Black), MWCNTs (Multi-wall Carbon Nano-Tube). * P value <0.001. (PDF 62 kb)

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Dinmohammadi, H., Pirdel, Z., Salarilak, L. et al. Pure ultra-fine carbon particles do not exert pro-coagulation and inflammatory effects on microvascular endothelial cells. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 991–999 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3783-3

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