Journal of Nanotechnology and Materials Science | 2015-05-01

The pre-thrombotic state induced by silica nanoparticles via interaction between pro- and anti-coagulant factors

Lizhen Jiang

Abstract

Silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) play a vital role in medicine applications such as drug delivery and cancer therapy. SiNPs can translocate into bloodstream through all possible routes of entry. However, there is scarce study on the hematotoxicity and mechanism of pre -thrombotic state of SiNPs in vivo. We specifically focused on the changes of platelets function and blood coagulation in Wistar rats after consecutive 7 days’ intravenous injection of SiNPs (52 nm). The platelets aggregation assay, structural changes of platelets membrane glucoproteins, coagulation test, coagulant/anti-coagulant and fibrinolytic factors were performed. Our results demonstrated a significant increase in platelets aggregation rate and platelet activation after SiNPs exposure. Clotting time were significantly shortened while fibrinogen (FIB) content was increased. There were sustained increases in coagulation factors and thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT) expression induced by SiNPs. Antithrombin III (AT-III) of the SiNPs-treated groups were significantly decreased while concentrations of Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) and D-dimer were elevated. In summary, our results supported that SiNPs could induce the hypercoagulable and pre-thrombotic state in rats via the interaction between platelets activation, coagulation system hyperfunction and fibrinolytic system resistance.

Keywords: Silica nanoparticles, pre-thrombotic state, platelets function, coagulation disorder, anti-coagulation and fibrinolytic system