A comparative study of different in vitro lung cell culture systems to assess the most beneficial tool for screening the potential adverse effects of carbon nanotubes

Clift, Martin J. D.; Endes, Carola; Vanhecke, Dimitri; Wick, Peter; Gehr, Peter; Schins, Roel P. F.; Petri-Fink, Alke; Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara

doi:10.1093/toxsci/kft216

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Journal article

A comparative study of different in vitro lung cell culture systems to assess the most beneficial tool for screening the potential adverse effects of carbon nanotubes

Clift, Martin J. D. Bio-Nanomaterials, Adolphe Merkle Institute, Fribourg, Switzerland
Endes, Carola Bio-Nanomaterials, Adolphe Merkle Institute, Fribourg, Switzerland
Vanhecke, Dimitri Bio-Nanomaterials, Adolphe Merkle Institute, Fribourg, Switzerland
Wick, Peter Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology, Materials-Biology Interactions Laboratory, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Gehr, Peter Institute of Anatomy, University of Bern, Switzerland
Schins, Roel P. F. Institute for Umweltmedizinische Forschung (IUF), Heinrich-Heine-Universitat Düsseldorf, Germany
Petri-Fink, Alke Bio-Nanomaterials, Adolphe Merkle Institute, Fribourg, Switzerland - Department of Chemistry, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara Bio-Nanomaterials, Adolphe Merkle Institute, Fribourg, Switzerland

01.01.2014

Published in:

Toxicological Sciences. - 2014, vol. 137, no. 1, p. 55-64

English To determine the potential inhalatory risk posed by carbon nanotubes (CNTs), a tier-based approach beginning with an in vitro assessment must be adopted. The purpose of this study therefore was to compare 4 commonly used in vitro systems of the human lung (human blood monocyte-derived macrophages [MDM] and monocyte-derived dendritic cells [MDDC], 16HBE14o- epithelial cells, and a sophisticated triple cell co-culture model [TCC-C]) via assessment of the biological impact of different CNTs (single-walled CNTs [SWCNTs] and multiwalled CNTs [MWCNTs]) over 24h. No significant cytotoxicity was observed with any of the cell types tested, although a significant (p < .05), dose-dependent increase in tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α following SWCNT and MWCNT exposure at concentrations up to 0.02mg/ml to MDM, MDDC, and the TCC-C was found. The concentration of TNF-α released by the MDM and MDDC was significantly higher (p < .05) than the TCC-C. Significant increases (p < .05) in interleukin (IL)-8 were also found for both 16HBE14o- epithelial cells and the TCC-C after SWCNTs and MWCNTs exposure up to 0.02mg/ml. The TCC-C, however, elicited a significantly (p < .05) higher IL-8 release than the epithelial cells. The oxidative potential of both SWCNTs and MWCNTs (0.005–0.02mg/ml) measured by reduced glutathione (GSH) content showed a significant difference (p < .05) between each monoculture and the TCC-C. It was concluded that because only the co-culture system could assess each endpoint adequately, that, in comparison with monoculture systems, multicellular systems that take into consideration important cell type-to-cell type interactions could be used as predictive in vitro screening tools for determining the potential deleterious effects associated with CNTs.

Faculty

Faculté des sciences et de médecine

Department

Département de Chimie

Language