Cytotoxicity of polyaniline nanomaterial on rat celiac macrophages in vitro

Polyaniline nanomaterial (nPANI) is getting popular in many industrial fields due to its conductivity and stability. The fate and effect of nPANI in the environment is of paramount importance towards its technological applications. In this work, the cytotoxicity of nPANI, which was prepared by rapid surface polymerization, was studied on rat celiac macrophages. Cell viability of macrophages treated with various concentrations of nPANI and different periods ranging from 24 to 72 hours was tested by a MTT assay. Damages of nPANI to structures of macrophages were evaluated according to the exposure level of cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and change of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). We observed no significant effects of nPANI on the survival, ROS level and MMP loss of macrophages at concentrations up to 1 µg/ml. However, higher dose of nPANI (10 µg/ml or above) induced cell death, changes of ROS level and MMP. In addition, an increase in the expression level of caspase-3 protein and its activated form was detected in a Western blot assay under the high dose exposure of nPANI. All together, our experimental results suggest that the hazardous potential of nPANI on macrophages is time- and dose-dependent and high dose of nPANI can induce cell apoptosis through caspase-3 mediated pathway.