The toxicity of hydroxylated and carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes to human endothelial cells was not exacerbated by ER stress inducer

摘要

Hydroxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes(h-MWCNTs) and carboxylated MWCNTs(c-MWCNTs)have potential applications in biomedicine, but their toxicity to human endothelial cells under stressed conditions associated with chronic diseases was less studied in vitro. This study stressed human umbilical vein endothelial cells(HUVECs) with ER stress inducer thapsigargin(TG), and investigated the toxicity of h-MWCNTs and c-MWCNTs to normal and stressed HUVECs. h-MWCNTs and c-MWCNTs modestly reduced cellular viability, significantly promoted soluble ICAM-1(sICAM-1),soluble VCAM-1(sVCAM-1) as well as intracellular ROS, and decreased the expression of transcription factor KLF2 and KLF4. Pre-treatment with TG significantly reduced cellular viability, promoted IL-6 and THP-1 monocyte adhesion, and increased the expression of a panel of ER stress genes. ANOVA indicated no interaction between MWCNTs and TG pre-treatment on most of the endpoints. It was concluded that the toxicity of h-MWCNTs and c-MWCNTs to HUVECs might not be exacerbated by ER stress