Research
Contamination of nanoparticles by endotoxin: evaluation of different test methods
1 Laboratory of Pneumology, Unit for Lung Toxicology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
2 Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Materials-Biology Interactions, St. Gallen, CH-9014, Switzerland
3 Venice Research Consortium, c/o VEGA Park - Venice Gateway for Science and Technology, Venice, Italy
4 KU Leuven BIOMAT, Department of Oral Health Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
5 CEA-Grenoble, Liten, Laboratory of Tracer Technologies, Grenoble, France
Particle and Fibre Toxicology 2012, 9:41 doi:10.1186/1743-8977-9-41
Published: 9 November 2012Abstract
Background
Nanomaterials can be contaminated with endotoxin (lipopolysaccharides, LPS) during production or handling. In this study, we searched for a convenient in vitro method to evaluate endotoxin contamination in nanoparticle samples. We assessed the reliability of the commonly used limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) assay and an alternative method based on toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 reporter cells when applied with particles (TiO2, Ag, CaCO3 and SiO2), or after extraction of the endotoxin as described in the ISO norm 29701.
Results
Our results indicate that the gel clot LAL assay is easily disturbed in the presence of nanoparticles; and that the endotoxin extraction protocol is not suitable at high particle concentrations. The chromogenic-based LAL endotoxin detection systems (chromogenic LAL assay and Endosafe-PTS), and the TLR4 reporter cells were not significantly perturbed.
Conclusion
We demonstrated that nanoparticles can interfere with endotoxin detection systems indicating that a convenient test method must be chosen before assessing endotoxin contamination in nanoparticle samples.
