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Gold nanoparticles: uptake in human mast cells and effect on cell viability, inflammatory mediators, and proliferation

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Abstract

Background

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have potential for a wide range of applications as therapeutic and diagnostic agents. Since they have a high probability of interacting with human immune cells, cytotoxicity studies must be conducted. The investigation of AuNP/immune cell interaction has mainly focused on macrophages and dendritic cells, along with some other cell lineages. Scarce information is available regarding the effect of AuNPs on mast cells, which are abundant in the skin, mucosa, and perivascular space.

Objective

To examine the uptake of AuNPs by HMC-1 human mast cells and the resulting effect on cell viability, pro-inflammatory mediators production, and proliferation.

Results

With AuNPs treatment, the viability of HMC-1 cells decreased slightly (never less than 95%) during the first 4 h, but no changes were detected in the proliferation rate at any time. Increasing concentrations of AuNPs produced greater cell granularity (uptake). CLSM images exhibited AuNPs clusters in the cell cytoplasm. TNF-α and ROS production was not stimulated by AuNPs treatment at any concentration/time.

Conclusion

Internalization of AuNPs into HMC-1 cells was demonstrated in an in vitro model, without showing cytotoxic effects or induction of pro-inflammatory mediators at any concentration tested.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Guillermo Pérez-Dimas and Luis Gilberto Pérez-Blas for technical assistance in cell culture, to Dr. Rommel Chacón-Salinas for providing HMC-1 cells, and to the core faculty of flow cytometry of the ESM-IPN under the direction of Dr. Marycarmen Godínez-Victoria. We greatly appreciate the Hematopathology Lab of the ENCB-IPN, Dr. Elba Reyes-Maldonado, Dr. Ruth Angélica Lezama-Palacios, M.S. Erika Rosales-Cruz, and the CNMN-IPN. RAG-C acknowledges the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) for the PhD scholarship. OR-C acknowledges the Secretaría de Investigación y Posgrado del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (SIP-20210826) for the funding granted. AM-D acknowledges the Secretaría de Investigación y Posgrado del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (SIP-20196318, SIP-20200845) and the Secretaría de Educación, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación de la Ciudad de México (SECTEI/271/2019) for the funding granted.

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Author notes

  1. Ramón A. Gutiérrez-Calleja and Octavio Rodríguez-Cortés contributed equally to the work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departmento de Ciencias Básicas, UPIBI—Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Av. Acueducto S/N, La Laguna Ticomán, 07340, Gustavo A. Madero, Mexico City, Mexico

    Ramón A. Gutiérrez-Calleja & Alejandro Muñoz-Diosdado

  2. Inmunología Médica, Laboratorio 103, ESM—Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Salvador Díaz Mirón Esq. Plan de San Luis S/N, Casco de Santo Tomás, 11340, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City, Mexico

    Octavio Rodríguez-Cortés & Raúl Flores-Mejía

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  1. Ramón A. Gutiérrez-Calleja
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  3. Raúl Flores-Mejía
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  4. Alejandro Muñoz-Diosdado
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Contributions

Conceptualization: RAG-C, OR-C and AM-D; experimental design: RAG-C, OR-C and RF-M; experimental execution: RAG-C; data acquisition and processing: RAG-C; formal analysis: RAG-C and OR-C; funding acquisition: AM-D and OR-C; project administration: AM-D and OR-C; writing original draft: RAG-C and OR-C; writing review: AM-D, OR-C and RF-M.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ramón A. Gutiérrez-Calleja.

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RAG-C declares that he has not conflict of interest. ORC-C declares that he has not conflict of interest. RF-M declares that he has not conflict of interest. AM-D declares that he has not conflict of interest.

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Gutiérrez-Calleja, R.A., Rodríguez-Cortés, O., Flores-Mejía, R. et al. Gold nanoparticles: uptake in human mast cells and effect on cell viability, inflammatory mediators, and proliferation. Mol. Cell. Toxicol. 17, 439–452 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13273-021-00152-7

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