@article{eprints3251,
          author = {Alice Bertero and Adriano Boni and Mauro Gemmi and Mariacristina Gagliardi and Angelo Bifone and Giuseppe Bardi},
         journal = {Nanotoxicology},
       publisher = {Taylor \& Francis},
            year = {2014},
           title = {Surface functionalisation regulates polyamidoamine dendrimer toxicity on blood?brain barrier cells and the modulation of key inflammatory receptors on microglia},
           pages = {158--168},
          number = {2},
          volume = {8},
        keywords = {Neuroinflammation; Glia; endothelial cells; polymer functionalisation; in vitro},
        abstract = {AbstractDendrimers are branched polymers with spherical morphology. Their tuneable chemistry and surface modification make them valuable nanomaterials for biomedical applications. In view of possible dendrimer uses as brain-aimed nanocarriers, the authors studied amine- and lipid-functionalised (G4) polyamidoamine (PAMAM) biocompatibility with cell population forming the blood?brain barrier (BBB). Both amine-PAMAM and lipid-PAMAM dendrimers were able to enter endothelial and primary neural cells. However, only amine-PAMAM damaged cell membranes in a dose-dependent manner. Transmission electron microscopy evidenced the ability of dendrimers to precipitate salts and serum components present in culture medium that slightly increased toxicity of the amine-PAMAM. Amine- and lipid-PAMAM were both able to cross the BBB and differently induced CD11b and CCR2 overexpression on primary CX3CR1-GFP murine microglia in vitro. These data emphasise the role of dendrimer surface functionalisation in toxicity and neural immune cell activation, raising concerns about possible neuroinflammatory reactions.},
             url = {http://eprints.imtlucca.it/3251/}
}