Safety Evaluation of Engineered Nanomaterials for Health Risk Assessment: An Experimental Tiered Testing Approach Using Pristine and Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes

Table 2

Localization and expression of immunolabeling for IL-6, TGF-𝛽1 and Collagen (type I) on a semiquantitative evaluation.

	IL-6	TGF-β1	Collagen-I
Control
Bronchiolar cells	±	−	+
Alveolar cells	±	−	±
Stromal cells	±	±	+
Pristine MW
Bronchiolar cells	++±	+±	+±
Alveolar cells	+±	+	+
Stromal cells	+±	+++	+±
MW-NH2
Bronchiolar cells	++++	++	+±
Alveolar cells	++	+	+±
Stromal cells	++±	++++	++
MW-COOH
Bronchiolar cells	++±	++	+±
Alveolar cells	+±	+	+±
Stromal cells	+±	+++±	++
𝑃 value
Bronchiolar cells	<0.05	<0.05	ns
Alveolar cells	<0.05	<0.05	ns
Stromal cells	<0.05	<0.05	ns

Degree of staining intensity: from undetectable (−) to strong (++++).
𝑃 values calculated by Kruskal-Wallis test.
ns: not statistically significant.