Multiplexing techniques for measurement of the immunomodulatory effects of particulate materials: Precautions when testing micro- and nano-particles. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Particulate materials at nano- and micro-scales have widespread pharmaceutical and medical applications. Understanding the interactions of these materials with biological systems is crucial for the design of clinically-viable biomaterials of high safety profiles. Immunomodulatory effects of particulate materials can be studied via multiplexing techniques that are capable of measuring up to 500 biomarkers in a few microliters of biological samples. However, there are several challenges towards the use of multiplexing techniques for testing the ability of nanomaterials to induce the release of various biomarkers. As one of the potential challenges, the adsorption of biomarkers on surfaces or within internal structures of nano- or micro-particles has been explored to a lesser extent, although it can lead to biased conclusions and data misinterpretation. Herein, we provide technical details on the use of multiplexing techniques for the evaluation of immunomodulatory effects of nanoparticulates. The same principles can also be applied for the assessment of microparticles. Importantly, precautions to avoid artifacts and data misinterpretation, due to interactions between particles and biomarkers, are provided.

published proceedings

  • Methods

altmetric score

  • 0.5

author list (cited authors)

  • Elsabahy, M., Wooley, K. L., Hendricksen, A., & Oh, K.

citation count

  • 6

complete list of authors

  • Elsabahy, Mahmoud||Wooley, Karen L||Hendricksen, Amy||Oh, Kenneth

publication date

  • April 2019