Amine modification of nonporous silica nanoparticles reduces inflammatory response following intratracheal instillation in murine lungs

Abstract

Amorphous silica nanoparticles (NPs) possess unique material properties that make them ideal for many different applications. However, the impact of these materials on human and environmental health needs to be established. We investigated nonporous silica NPs both bare and modified with amine functional groups (3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES)) in order to evaluate the effect of surface chemistry on biocompatibility. In vitro data showed there to be little to no cytotoxicity in a human lung cancer epithelial cell line (A549) for neither bare silica NPs nor amine-functionalized NPs using doses based on both mass concentration (below 200 μg/mL) and exposed total surface area (below 14 m2/L). To assess lung inflammation, C57/B16 mice were administered bare and amine-functionalized silica NPs via intra-tracheal instillation. Two doses (0.1 and 0.5 mg NPs/mouse) were tested using the in vivo model. At the higher dose used, bare silica NPs elicited a significantly higher inflammatory response, as evidence by increased neutrophils and total protein in bronchoalveolar (BAL) fluid compared to amine-functionalized NPs. From this study, we conclude that functionalization of nonporous silica NPs with APTES molecules reduces murine lung inflammation and improves the overall biocompatibility of the nanomaterial.

Silica nanoparticles induce liver fibrosis via TGF-β₁/Smad3 pathway in ICR mice

“…It was reported that SiO 2 NPs modified with amine functional groups induced less serious lung inflammation and possessed better biocompatibility. 38 Lu et al found that amino and carboxyl surface modification mitigated the hepatic toxicity of SiO 2 NPs. 39 However, there is a lack of more meticulous and systemic studies about the effects of surface modification on the toxicity of SiO 2 NPs.…”

Reactive Mesoporous pH-Sensitive Amino-Functionalized Silica Nanoparticles for Efficient Removal of Coomassie Blue Dye

“…The polydispersity index (PDI) and particle-size diameters of the amine-modified SiO 2 NPs are determined and listed in Figure 6a-d. All amine-modified SiO 2 NPs formed aggregates or cluster at pH 7 and their sizes were altered by changing the pH of aqueous solutions either in acidic or alkaline aqueous solutions (Figure 6a-d). The amine-modified silica nanomaterials tend to form interparticle network and consequently gelation, which increased with increasing the amine contents [35][36][37][38][39]. The increasing of the particle sizes of SiO 2 -10-10 NPs (Figure 5d) more than other amine-modified SiO 2 NPs agrees with the previous works [35][36][37][38][39] and elucidates the increasing of amine contents on its surfaces as confirmed from FTIR and TGA analysis ( Figures 1a-d and 2a-d, respectively).…”

Biocompatibility of Amine‐Functionalized Silica Nanoparticles: The Role of Surface Coverage

“…One possible reason for the discrepancy in the findings regarding the role of amine‐modifications of the silica surface for toxicity might stem from differences in the quantitative coverage by the functional groups. It is assumed that replacement of reactive silanol groups by amino groups prevents their detrimental interaction with cells . However, it has not been determined yet, how much of the silica surface needs to be covered by amino groups to suppress toxicity.…”