(236c) Interactions of Graphene Oxide Nanosheets with Blood-Related Entities and Their Implications for Hematological Disorders

Blood-related disorders are some of the most fundamental and complex abnormalities as they can cause critical health conditions, including heart attack, stroke, and cancer [1, 2]. Although nanomaterials have been actively explored for various biomedical applications [3-5], they have not been really investigated for hematological applications. Among all classes of nanomaterials explored for biomedicine, the two-dimensional (2D) graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets stand out because of their unique and versatile physicochemical properties [6], which may be beneficial for hematological applications [7-10]. Herein, we examined the interactions of GO nanosheets with different blood-related entities, particularly plasma proteins, blood cells, and blood-borne parasites, to unravel the biophysicochemical activities of GO nanosheets for hematological applications. First, we evaluated the GO-protein associations, specifically the adsorption, equilibrium binding, and conformational stability of plasma proteins upon interacting with GO nanosheets [7, 8]. The interactions of GO nanosheets with whole blood under flow condition, and with Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites, were then probed to assess the antithrombotic and antimalarial properties of GO nanosheets [9, 10]. GO nanosheets were noted to possess high loading capacity for major blood plasma proteins and the nanosheets did not induce protein denaturation. These interactions were protein-specific and might be considerably influenced by the lateral size distribution and concentration of GO nanosheets. We also observed that functionalized GO nanosheets displayed antithrombotic characteristic under flow condition. Moreover, pristine GO nanosheets, irrespective of their size distribution, exhibited antimalarial activity by mitigating the malaria parasite invasion on red blood cells and delaying the parasite maturation. Overall, with their high biomolecule loading capacity and unique antithrombotic and antimalarial characteristics, GO nanosheets are highly promising for hematological applications. This study will provide a deeper insight into nanomaterial-blood interactions and potentially facilitate further explorations into the formulation of nanotechnology-based strategies for biomedical applications.

References

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[6] Kenry et al., Biomaterials 155 (2018), 236-250.

[7] Kenry et al., NPG Asia Materials 9 (2017), e422.

[8] Kenry et al., Nanoscale 8 (2016), 9425-9441.

[9] Kenry et al., Small 11 (2015), 5105-5117.

[10] Kenry et al., Nanoscale 9 (2017), 14065-14073.