The changes of T lymphocytes and cytokines in ICR mice fed with Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles

Abstract

Jun Wang1, Baoan Chen1, Nan Jin1, Guohua Xia2, Yue Chen1, Ying Zhou1, Xiaohui Cai1,2, Jiahua Ding1, Xiaomao Li3, Xuemei Wang41Department of Hematology, Zhongda Hospital, 2Department of Medical Laboratory, Medical School, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China; 3Department of Physics, University of Saarland, Saarbruecken, Germany; 4National Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics (Chien-Shiung Wu Laboratory), Southeast University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of ChinaAbstract: The aim of this article is to study the changes inhibited T lymphocytes and cytokines related to the cellular immunity in ICR (imprinting control region) mice fed with Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4-MNPs). The Fe3O4-MNPs were synthesized, and their characteristics such as particle size, zeta potential, and X-ray diffraction patterns were measured and determined. All ICR mice were sacrificed after being exposed to 0, 300, 600, and 1200 mg/kg of Fe3O4-MNPs by single gastric administration for 14 days. Splenocytes proliferation was indicated with stimulate index by MTT assay; release of cytokines in the serum of ICR mice was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the phenotypic analyses of T-lymphocyte subsets were performed using flow cytometry. Our results indicated that there were no significant differences in splenocyte proliferation and release of cytokines between exposed and control groups. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the proportions of T-lymphocyte subsets in the low-dose Fe3O4-MNPs group when compared to the control group, but the proportions of CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+ T-lymphocyte subsets both in the medium- and high-dose Fe3O4-MNPs groups were higher than those in the control group. It is concluded that a high dose of Fe3O4-MNPs, to some extent, could influence in vivo immune function of normal ICR mice.Keywords: Fe3O4, magnetic nanoparticles, splenocyte proliferation, release of cytokines, T-lymphocyte subsets, ICR mice