Viologen-phosphorus dendrimers exhibit minor toxicity against a murine neuroblastoma cell line

Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters

Katarzyna Milowska¹  Teresa Gabryelak¹  Maria Bryszewska¹  Abdelkim Kadib²  Joanna Lazniewska¹  Jean-Pierre Majoral³  Nadia Katir³ 

[1] Department of General Biophysics, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland$$;Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology and Moroccan Foundation for Advanced Science, Innovation and Research (INANOTECH-MAScIR), ENSET, Rabat, Morocco$$;Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination CNRS, Toulouse, France$$

关键词: Apoptosis;    Cytotoxicity;    N2a cell line;    ROS;    Viologen-phosphorus dendrimers;   

DOI  :  10.2478/s11658-013-0100-5

学科分类：分子生物学，细胞生物学和基因

来源: Uniwersytet Wroclawski * Wydzial Biotechnologii / University of Wroclaw, Faculty of Biotechnology

【 摘 要 】

Dendrimers containing viologen (derivatives of 4,4′-bipyridyl) units in their structure have been demonstrated to exhibit antiviral activity against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1). It has also recently been revealed that novel dendrimers with both viologen units and phosphorus groups in their structure show different antimicrobial, cytotoxic and hemotoxic properties, and have the ability to influence the activity of cholinesterases and to inhibit α-synuclein fibrillation. Since the influence of viologen-phosphorus structures on basic cellular processes had not been investigated, we examined the impact of such macromolecules on the murine neuroblastoma cell line (N2a). We selected three water-soluble viologen-phosphorus (VPD) dendrimers, which differ in their core structure, number of viologen units and number and type of surface groups, and analyzed several aspects of the cellular response. These included cell viability, generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), alterations in mitochondrial activity, morphological modifications, and the induction of apoptosis and necrosis. The MTT assay results suggest that all of the tested dendrimers are only slightly cytotoxic. Although some changes in ROS formation and mitochondrial function were detected, the three compounds did not induce apoptosis or necrosis. In light of these results, we can assume that the tested VPD are relatively safe for mouse neuroblastoma cells. Although more research on their safety is needed, VPD seem to be promising nanoparticles for further biomedical investigation.

【 授权许可】

Unknown