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Chemically functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes enhance the glutamate uptake characteristics of mouse cortical astrocytes

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Abstract

Using a radioactive glutamate uptake assay and immunolabeling, we report that single-walled carbon nanotubes, chemically functionalized with polyethylene glycol (SWCNT-PEG), delivered as a colloidal solute, cause an increase in the uptake of extracellular glutamate by astrocytes and an increase in the immunoreactivity of the glutamate transporter GLAST on their cell surface, which is likely a consequence of an increase in the immunoreactivity of glial fibrillary acidic protein. Additional corollary is that astrocytes exposed to SWCNT-PEG became larger and stellate, morphological characteristics of maturation and heightened activity of these glial cells. These results imply that SWCNT-PEG could potentially be used as a viable candidate for neural prosthesis applications, perhaps to alleviate the death toll of neurons due to glutamate excitotoxicity, a pathological process observed in brain and spinal cord injuries.

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Abbreviations

CNT:

Carbon nanotube

EAAT:

Excitatory amino acid transporter

GFAP:

Glial fibrillary acidic protein

GLAST:

l-Glutamate/l-aspartate transporter

GLT-1:

Glial l-glutamate transporter

ICC:

Indirect immunocytochemistry

ir:

Immunoreactivity

PEG:

Polyethylene glycol

ROCK:

Rho-associated protein kinase

SWCNT:

Single-walled carbon nanotube

TBOA:

dl-Threo-β-benzyloxyaspartic acid

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Acknowledgments

We thank Stephanie M. Robert and Dr. Harald Sontheimer, University of Alabama at Birmingham, for their help with the glutamate uptake study and Dr. Vladimir Grubišić for his constructive comments on a previous version of this manuscript. V. Parpura acknowledges the support of this work by National Institutes of Health (The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development award HD078678).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

All applicable international, national and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. All procedures performed in studies involving animals were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology and Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1719 6th Ave S, CIRC 429, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA

    Manoj K. Gottipati & Vladimir Parpura

  2. Department of Chemistry and Department of Chemical Engineering, Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, University of California, 104 Pierce Hall Annex, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Elena Bekyarova

  3. Carbon Solutions, Inc., Riverside, CA, 92507, USA

    Elena Bekyarova

  4. Department of Chemistry and Department of Chemical Engineering, Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, University of California, 203 Pierce Hall Annex, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Robert C. Haddon

  5. Department of Physics, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia

    Robert C. Haddon

  6. Department of Biotechnology, University of Rijeka, 51000, Rijeka, Croatia

    Vladimir Parpura

Authors
  1. Manoj K. Gottipati
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  2. Elena Bekyarova
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  3. Robert C. Haddon
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  4. Vladimir Parpura
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vladimir Parpura.

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Handling Editor: G. Lubec.

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Gottipati, M.K., Bekyarova, E., Haddon, R.C. et al. Chemically functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes enhance the glutamate uptake characteristics of mouse cortical astrocytes. Amino Acids 47, 1379–1388 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-015-1970-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-015-1970-9

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