Nontoxic impact of PEG-coated gold nanospheres on functional pulmonary surfactant-secreting alveolar type II cells

The outstanding properties of gold nanoparticles (NPs) make them very attractive for biomedical applications. In particular, the inhalation route has gained considerable interest as an innovative strategy for diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary diseases. It is, therefore, important to scrutinise the potentially deleterious or side effects of NPs on lung epithelium. The present study investigates, for the first time, the impact of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated NPs on freshly purified primary cultures of rat alveolar type II (ATII) cells. These cells play a central role in the respiratory function of the lungs. They are responsible for synthesizing and secreting pulmonary surfactant (PS), which is required to stabilise the respiratory surface during breathing dynamics. Cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of NPs was evaluated by analysing morphology, viability and exocytotic activity of ATII cells (PS secretion). The impact of ATII cells' exposure to NPs was studied in a wide range of gold concentration with particles sizes of 15 and 100 nm. The results show that PEG-coated NPs are very modestly internalised by ATII cells and it neither leads to detectable morphological changes nor to decreased cell viability nor to alterations in basic functional parameters such as PS secretion, even on exposure to high gold concentration (similar to 0.2 mM) during relatively long periods of time (24-48 h).