21800898

PMC3321726

It is commonly believed that nanomaterials cause nonspecific oxidative damage. Our mass spectrometry-based oxidative lipidomics analysis of all major phospholipid classes revealed highly selective patterns of pulmonary peroxidation after inhalation exposure of mice to single-walled carbon nanotubes. No oxidized molecular species were found in the two most abundant phospholipid classes: phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine. Peroxidation products were identified in three relatively minor classes of anionic phospholipids, cardiolipin, phosphatidylserine, and phosphatidylinositol, whereby oxygenation of polyunsaturated fatty acid residues also showed unusual substrate specificity. This nonrandom peroxidation coincided with the accumulation of apoptotic cells in the lung. A similar selective phospholipid peroxidation profile was detected upon incubation of a mixture of total lung lipids with H(2)O(2)/cytochrome c known to catalyze cardiolipin and phosphatidylserine peroxidation in apoptotic cells. The characterized specific phospholipid peroxidation signaling pathways indicate new approaches to the development of mitochondria-targeted regulators of cardiolipin peroxidation to protect against deleterious effects of pro-apoptotic effects of single-walled carbon nanotubes in the lung.

CDC Public Access

HL094488/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States
HL70755/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States
OH008282/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States
R01 HL070755/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States
R01 HL070755-06/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States
R01 HL094488/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States
R01 HL094488-02/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States
U19 AI068021/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States
U19 AI068021-07/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States
U19AIO68021/PHS HHS/United States