This work aimed to interrogate the role that the starting graphitic material played on the physicochemical properties of graphene oxide (GO) sheets and their impact on mammalian cell viability following exposure to those flakes. Three different GO thin sheets were synthesised from three starting graphite material: flakes (GO-f), ground (GO-g) and powder (GO-p) using a modified Hummers' method. The synthetic yield of this methodology was found to differ according to type of starting material, with GO-p resulting in most efficient yields. Structural and morphological comparison of the three GO sheet types were carried out using transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Optical properties were measured using UV/visible and fluorescence spectroscopy. Surface characteristics and chemistry were determined using a battery of techniques. Exposure to human cells was studied using the human A549 lung epithelial cultures. Our results revealed that all three GO samples were composed of few-layer sheets with similar physicochemical and surface characteristics. However, significant differences were observed in terms of their lateral dimensions with GO-p, prepared from graphite powder, being the largest among the GOs. No cytotoxicity was detected for any of the GO samples following exposure onto A549 cells up to 48 h. In conclusion, the form and type of the starting graphite material is shown to be an important factor that can determine the synthetic yield and the structural characteristics of the resulting GO sheets.
While brain swelling, associated with fluid accumulation, is a known feature of pediatric cerebral malaria (CM), how fluid and macromolecules are drained from the brain during recovery from CM is unknown. Using the experimental CM (ECM) model, we show that fluid accumulation in the brain during CM is driven by vasogenic edema and not by perivascular cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) influx. We identify that fluid and molecules are removed from the brain extremely quickly in mice with ECM to the deep cervical lymph nodes (dcLNs), predominantly through basal routes and across the cribriform plate and the nasal lymphatics. In agreement, we demonstrate that ligation of the afferent lymphatic vessels draining to the dcLNs significantly impairs fluid drainage from the brain and lowers anti-malarial drug recovery from the ECM syndrome. Collectively, our results provide insight into the pathways that coordinate recovery from CM.
Meeting abstracts In the last few years, there has been enormous interest in graphene oxide (GO) for its wide variety of applications[[1][1]]. However, for any medical application, the immune system-impact of GO still remain to be fully understood. Moreover, the modulation of immune cells mediated
Graphene oxide (GO) is an oxidised form of graphene that has attracted commercial interest in multiple applications, including inks, printed electronics and spray coatings, which all raise health concerns due to potential creation of inhalable aerosols. Although a number of studies have discussed the toxicity of GO sheets, the in vivo impact of their lateral dimensions is still not clear. Here, we compared the effects of large GO sheets (l-GO, 1–20 µm) with those of small GO sheets (s-GO, < 1 µm) in terms of mesothelial damage and peritoneal inflammation, after intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection in mice. To benchmark the outcomes, long and rigid multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) that were shown to be associated with asbestos-like pathogenicity on the mesothelium were also tested. Our aim was to assess whether lateral dimensions can be a predictor of inflammogenicity for GO sheets in a similar fashion as length is for MWCNTs. While long MWCNTs dispersed in 0.5% BSA induced a granulomatous response on the diaphragmatic mesothelium and immune cell recruitment to the peritoneal cavity, GO sheets dispersed under similar conditions did not cause any response, regardless of their lateral dimensions. We further interrogated whether tuning the surface reactivity of GO by testing different dispersions (5% dextrose instead of 0.5% BSA) may change the biological outcome. Although the change of dispersion did not alter the impact of GO on the mesothelium (i.e. no granuloma), we observed that, when dispersed in protein-free 5% dextrose solution, s-GO elicited a greater recruitment of monocytic cells to the peritoneal cavity than l-GO, or when dispersed in protein-containing solution. Such recruitment coincided with the greater ability of s-GO to interact in vivo with peritoneal macrophages and was associated with a greater surface reactivity in comparison to l-GO. In conclusion, large dimension was not a determining factor of the immunological impact of GO sheets after i.p. administration. For an equal dose, GO sheets with lateral dimensions similar to the length of long MWCNTs were less pathogenic than the MWCNTs. On the other hand, surface reactivity and the ability of some smaller GO sheets to interact more readily with immune cells seem to be key parameters that can be tuned to improve the safety profile of GO. In particular, the choice of dispersion modality, which affected these two parameters, was found to be of crucial importance in the assessment of GO impact in this model. Overall, these findings are essential for a better understanding of the parameters governing GO toxicity and inflammation, and the rational design of safe GO-based formulations for various applications, including biomedicine.
Stimuli‐responsive biomaterials have attracted significant attention in the field of polymeric implants designed as active scaffolds for on‐demand drug delivery. Conventional porous scaffolds suffer from drawbacks such as molecular diffusion and material degradation, allowing in most cases only a zero‐order drug release profile. The possibility of using external stimulation to trigger drug release is particularly enticing. In this paper, the fabrication of previously unreported graphene hydrogel hybrid electro‐active scaffolds capable of controlled small molecule release is presented. Pristine ball‐milled graphene sheets are incorporated into a three dimensional macroporous hydrogel matrix to obtain hybrid gels with enhanced mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. These electroactive scaffolds demonstrate controlled drug release in a pulsatile fashion upon the ON/OFF application of low electrical voltages, at low graphene concentrations (0.2 mg mL –1 ) and by maintaining their structural integrity. Moreover, the in vivo performance of these electroactive scaffolds to release drug molecules without any “resistive heating” is demonstrated. In this study, an illustration of how the heat dissipating properties of graphene can provide significant and previously unreported advantages in the design of electroresponsive hydrogels, able to maintain optimal functionality by overcoming adverse effects due to unwanted heating, is offered.
Graphene oxide (GO) is attracting great interest in biomedical sciences. The impact of GO on immune cells is one fundamental area of study that is often overlooked, but critical in terms of clinical translation. This work investigates the effects of two types of thoroughly characterized GO sheets, different in their lateral dimension, on human peripheral immune cells provided from healthy donors using a wide range of assays. After evaluation of cell viability, the gene expression was analyzed, following GO exposure on 84 genes related to innate and adaptive immune responses. Exposure to GO small sheets was found to have a more significant impact on immune cells compared to GO large sheets, reflected in the upregulation of critical genes implicated in immune responses and the release of cytokines IL1β and TNFα. These findings were further confirmed by whole‐genome microarray analysis of the impact of small GO sheets on T cells and monocytes. Activation in both cell types was underlined by the overexpression of genes such as CXCL10 and receptor CXCR3. Significant energy‐dependent pathway modulation was identified. These findings can potentially pave the foundations for further design of graphene that can be used for immune modulation applications, for example in cancer immunotherapy.
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