Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2016
College/Unit
School of Medicine
Department/Program/Center
Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience
Abstract
Background: Cellulose-based materials have been used for centuries to manufacture different goods derived from forestry and agricultural sources. In the growing field of nanocellulose applications, its uniquely engineered properties are instrumental for inventive products coming to competitive markets. Due to their high aspect ratio and stiffness, it is speculated that cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) may cause similar pulmonary toxicity as carbon nanotubes and asbestos, thus posing a potential negative impact on public health and the environment.
Methods: The present study was undertaken to investigate the pulmonary outcomes induced by repeated exposure to respirable CNC. C57BL/6 female and male mice were exposed by pharyngeal aspiration to CNC (40 μg/mouse) 2 times a week for 3 weeks. Several biochemical endpoints and pathophysiological outcomes along with gene expression changes were evaluated and compared in the lungs of male and female mice.
Results: Exposure to respirable CNC caused pulmonary inflammation and damage, induced oxidative stress, elevated TGF-β and collagen levels in lung, and impaired pulmonary functions. Notably, these effects were markedly more pronounced in females compared to male mice. Moreover, sex differences in responses to pulmonary exposure to CNC were also detected at the level of global mRNA expression as well as in inflammatory cytokine/chemokine activity.
Conclusions: Overall, our results indicate that there are considerable differences in responses to respirable CNC based on gender with a higher pulmonary toxicity observed in female mice.
Digital Commons Citation
Shvedova, Anna A.; Kisin, Elena R.; Yanamala, Naveena; Farcas, Mariana T.; Menas, Autumn L.; Williams, Andrew; Fournier, Philip M.; Reynolds, Jeffrey S.; Gutkin, Dmitriy W.; Star, Alexander; Reiner, Richard S.; Halappanavar, Sabina; and Kagan, Valerian E., "Gender Differences In Murine Pulmonary Responses Elicited By Cellulose Nanocrystals" (2016). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 2071.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/2071
Source Citation
Shvedova, A. A., Kisin, E. R., Yanamala, N., Farcas, M. T., Menas, A. L., Williams, A., Fournier, P. M., Reynolds, J. S., Gutkin, D. W., Star, A., Reiner, R. S., Halappanavar, S., & Kagan, V. E. (2015). Gender differences in murine pulmonary responses elicited by cellulose nanocrystals. Particle and Fibre Toxicology, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12989-016-0140-x
Comments
© 2016 The Author(s). Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.