Study of the graphene oxide nanoparticles effect on luminol-dependent chemiluminescence of human leukocytes

Abstract

Graphene and its derivatives are increasingly used in biomedical research. Therefore, the mechanisms and consequences of the interaction of graphene nanoparticles with living objects are intensively studied. The immune system is involved in protecting the body and regulating its functions, so the question of the effect of graphene and its derivatives on immune cells is crucial. The specific response of monocytes, macrophages, and neutrophils to a stimulus is to increase the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Published data on graphene oxide (GO) and polyethylene glycol-modified graphene oxide (GO-PEG) effects on peripheral blood leukocytes are scarce and contradictory. It is due to variations in objects and conditions of study, along with the difference in particle concentrations. Thus, it was essential to evaluate the GO and GO-PEG effect on ROS production by human leukocytes. Our study aimed at the effect of particles of unmodified and PEG-modified graphene oxide (GO and GO-PEG) on the ROS production by peripheral blood leukocytes in not-stimulated and stimulated luminoldependent chemiluminescence (LCL) tests. ROS production was stimulated by opsonized zymosan (OZ). A hydrogen peroxide-luminol system was used for assessing the independent effect of GO nanoparticles on the quenching of ROS luminescence. Pristine GO (Ossila, Great Britain) nanoparticles were PEG-modified (GO-PEG). The average size of the GO flakes was 1-5 µm, the GO-PEG-flakes 569±14 nm, and the amount of PEG covering was ~ 20%. Nanoparticles were used at concentrations of 5; 2.5; 1.25 µg/ml. It has been established that GO-PEG nanoparticles in concentrations of 2.5 and 5 µg/ml suppressed ROS production in the spontaneous LCL test. At the same time, the GO effects showed a visible but a not significant tendency to inhibition of LCL. Similar results were obtained in the stimulated LCL test. However, when analyzing the process kinetics, both GO-PEG and GO decreased the ROS production, but mainly in the first minutes of the test. When analyzing the quenching effect of the LCL reaction in a cell-free system, there was no significant effect of GO and GO-PEG nanoparticles. Thus, the general vector of the obtained effects was associated with the suppression of ROS production. GO-PEG ROS-decreasing effects were more pronounced in comparison with unmodified GO. In general, we have confirmed the antioxidant effects of GO and GO-PEG using the LCL method. We can assume that in addition to the actual antioxidant effect of graphene nanoparticles, ROS production decreases due to the rapid GO uptake and blocking of several intracellular signals that induce an oxidative burst.

Toxicological effects of selenium nanoparticles in laboratory animals: A review

“…Furthermore, although elemental selenium is considered to be the most inert (Poluboyarinov et al, 2019), the reviewed studies do not mention protein corona. The protein corona of nanoparticles and the biological response to it is crucial in nanotoxicology (Corbo et al, 2016; Durán et al, 2015), as it plays a critical role in the interaction between nanoparticles and cells, the rate of their elimination from the bloodstream, toxicity, and distribution in the organism (Bochkova et al, 2020).…”

Effect of graphene oxide on spectral-luminescenct properties of xanthene dye

“…It was shown in Refs. [11][12][13] that GO can interact with various organic dyes and quantum dots. Based on these unique properties, various graphene-based sensors have been developed using photoinduced electron transfer or FRET [14][15].…”

Graphene Oxide Nanoparticles in the Regulation of the Oxidative Activity of Human Monocytes

“…However, the GO cytotoxicity and proinflammatory effects are the factors limiting the use of GO-based drugs and hinder the translation of scientific developments into practice. It is known that the surface modification (functionalization) of GO nanoparticles using the polymer-adsorbed particles is one of the ways to reduce the harmful graphene-related cell effects [2,3]. In particular, polyethylene glycol (PEG) is the most common material used for functionalization of GO nanoparticles.…”