The Interplay of Lung Surfactant Proteins and Lipids Assimilates the Macrophage Clearance of Nanoparticles
Figure 1
Association of nanoparticles with alveolar macrophages in presence of surfactant proteins as determined by flow-cytometry.
(A) Starch-modified (ST) magnetite nanoparticles (mNP) or (B) Phosphatidylcholine-modified (PL) mNPs (1.532×1010/ml) were exposed to alveolar macrophages in the absence or presence of increasing surfactant protein concentrations and incubated for 90 min. Cells with Fl-1>101 were considered as positive cells for nanoparticle association and uptake (expressed as percent of positive cells with respect to total cells) compared to control (cells only). Data shown as mean ± SD (n≥3). Asterisk indicates a significant difference with p<0.05, compared to mNP in the absence of proteins.