Lysosome membrane disordering caused by nanocarbons and toxicity mechanism

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26600031
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Nanomaterials chemistry
• Research Institution: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
• Principal Investigator: Yudasaka Masako 国立研究開発法人産業技術総合研究所, ナノ材料研究部門, 招聘研究員 (70159226)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YOKOYAMA Atsuro 北海道大学, 歯学研究科(研究所), 教授 (20210627)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: ナノカーボン / 表面被覆 / リソソーム / 毒性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Nanocarbons are often engulfed by macrophages in the body. We have studied the macrophage death mechanism caused by carbon nanohorns (CNH), a type of nanocarbons. It is reported that CNHs induced the lysosome membrane instability when macrophages engulfed too many CNHs. With lysosome membrane instability, cathepsin was released from lysosome, causing mitochondrial membrane dysfunction and the cell apoptosis. Reactive oxygen species were also upregulated, and its mechanism has been clarified in this study. The surface coating for NC to avoid the macrophage uptake has been also studied, and could find the very effective one, which was confirmed by cell experiments and animal studies.

Free Research Field

ナノバイオ