Gene expression profiles in rat alveolar macrophages exposure to cellulose nanocrystals

To evaluate the biological impact of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) at the transcriptional level, we conducted whole-genome microarray analyses on rat alveolar macrophages (NR8383) exposed to CNCs with different physicochemical properties. Rat alveolar macrophages (NR8383) were exposed for 24 hours to three types of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs): sulfuric acid-hydrolyzed CNCs (CNC1), sulfuric acid-hydrolyzed CNCs with a high sulfonic group content (CNC2), and desulfated CNCs (CNC3), each at a concentration of 100 µg/mL. The experiments included a vehicle control group (n=4). Cyanine-3-labeled cRNA, generated from NR8383 exposed to CNCs was hybridized to a Whole Rat Genome Microarray. Subsequently, the scanned images of the hybridized microarray slides were subjected to numerical analysis to assess the transcriptional-level biological effects of CNCs on NR8383.