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. 2010 Nov 10;5(11):e15434. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015434

Figure 4. Effects of NPs on swelling kinetics and diffusivity of secretory granule matrix.

Figure 4

(A) Data points of swelling kinetics of secretory granule matrices of A549 cells were fit with equation (1). Exocytosis was triggered by ionomycin. Two representative lines are displayed here. The control (NP free; open circles) shows a higher rate of swelling of newly released mucin network than the swelling rate of mucin matrix when exposed to positively-charged NP (160 nm, 1 mg/L, solid circle). The black arrows indicate the swelling of exocytosed mucin matrix at different time points. (B) Positively-charged NPs hinder the rate of mucin diffusivity (hydration). Mucin post-exocytotic swelling from A549 cells was significantly reduced by positively- charged NPs (160 and 57 nm). This protocol to estimate mucin diffusivity of newly released mucin gels from A549 cells was adapted from our previous study [65]. Data are shown as mean±SD (n≥10). NP treated groups are significantly different from the untreated control at p<0.005 as indicated by *.