Plasma-Induced Enhanced Coagulation and Complement Activation of Blood Streams by Platinum Nanoparticles

Catalytic converters have now been largely employed to significantly reduce the levels of carbon-based particles into the atmosphere, however, this approach generates nanoparticles (NPs) that are often released as fine airborne particles into the atmosphere, having abilities to remain suspended in the atmosphere for long durations and find their way into the human lung cells, and eventually into the blood stream. This could result in triggering the body’s innate immune system. In this study, we exposed blood samples from healthy individuals to Platinum nanoparticles and compared the results to the effects induced by the thrombogenic TiO2, to investigate the response mechanisms of the blood cells and innate immune system to these particles. Results showed a clear activation of coagulation system in samples treated with both NPs, compared with untreated blood samples. TiO2 NPs had significantly higher coagulation effect (84% platelet consumption) compared to the platinum NPs (38% platelet consumption), while blood samples without NPs showed only a 14% platelet consumption. Also, TiO2 NPs and Pt NPs induced slightly similar complement activation in blood samples as measured from the generated C3a (921±16.70 µg/L and 826±27.50 µg/L respectively) and sC5b-9 (136±3.46 µg/L and 138±6.49 µg/L respectively) components. However, blood samples without NPs exhibited significantly lower C3a and sC5b-9 components (522±22.50 µg/L and 101±4.70 µg/L respectively). The latter demonstrated the potential risks exposed to by urban dwellers, such as cascading inflammatory and thrombotic responses, there is need for more investigation on the patho-serological events that can be triggered by other airborne fine particles.