Browsing by Author "Bogari, Nawaf N."
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Item Open Access Interaction of Silica Nanoparticles with Primary Alveolar Epithelial Cells(2015-09-01) Bogari, Nawaf N.; Amrein, MatthiasThe fate of nanoparticles reaching the alveolar lung is not completely understood. Clearance of these particles has been ascribed to the alveolar macrophages scavenging this region. In contrast, in my thesis, I show in vitro, that particles interact more strongly with the alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) than alveolar macrophages (AMs), are then taken up efficiently and transported across the cells and released on the basolateral side. First, I developed a protocol for obtaining a pure culture of rat AEC. Single cell force spectroscopy showed the AEC to respond strongly and in a clathrin-independent manner to the particles, unlike a host of control cells, including alveolar macrophages. Fluorescence light microscopy and total internal reflection fluorescence light microscopy (TIRF) demonstrated the transport to be novel, actin-dependent and microtubule independent. In summary, my thesis provides evidence of a second clearance mechanism in addition to AMs.