Journal: Small Science
Article Title: Graphene Triggers Inflammation in Murine Microglia via Phagocytosis
doi: 10.1002/smsc.202500531
Figure Lengend Snippet: Identification of molecular pathways involved in graphene‐based microglial stimulation via proteome analysis. Proteomic analysis was performed on SIM‐A9 cell lysates after 3‐h incubation with graphene on glass (Gl/Gl), graphene nanoplatelets (NP), or carbon nanotubes (NT) in PBS, compared to cells on pure glass. Only proteins with log 2 fold change >1.5 or <−1.5 and adjusted p ‐value < 0.05 were considered. (A) Volcano plot showing differential protein expression relative to glass control. The x ‐axis represents log 2 fold change, and the y ‐axis represents ‐log 10 ( p ‐value) from a modified t‐statistic (t(SAM)). (B) Venn diagrams showing overlap of significantly upregulated (blue, left) and downregulated (red, right) proteins. Circle size does not correspond to protein quantity. (C) Gene ontology analysis of up‐ and downregulated proteins, highlighting the 10 most strongly regulated pathways. Color scale indicates pathway strength: blue = upregulation, red = downregulation. (D,E) Protein–protein interaction networks of the top 50 significantly upregulated (D) and downregulated (E) proteins, visualized using STRING. Nodes represent proteins; edges represent predicted functional associations, with edge thickness reflecting interaction confidence. Three central networks were identified for both up‐ and downregulated proteins using k‐means clustering (minimum interaction score: 0.400). White spheres indicate unclustered proteins. Proteomics were performed with n = 4 per condition from four independent experiments.
Article Snippet: SIM‐A9 cells (Applied Biological Materials Inc.; Richmond (BC), Canada) were cultured at 37°C, 95% humidity, and 5% CO 2 using Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium/Nutrient Mixture F‐12 (DMEM:F‐12), supplemented with 10% v/v heat‐inactivated fetal bovine serum (Gibco, Carlsbad, CA, USA), 5% v/v heat‐inactivated donor horse serum (Gibco, Carlsbad, CA, USA), 1% v/v Penicillin–Streptomycin (Sigma–Aldrich; Steinheim, Germany), and 1% v/v L‐Glutamine (Sigma–Aldrich; Steinheim, Germany).
Techniques: Incubation, Expressing, Control, Modification, Functional Assay