Phagocytosis of chemically modified carbon materials

An oxidizing treatment of carbon fibres in boiling nitric acid leads to significant changes in the chemical state of their surface. As a result of the chemical treatment on a hydrophobic carbon surface, hydrophilic domains are formed and phenolic, carbonyl and carboxyl groups appear. In this work the intensity of phagocytosis of carbon fibres obtained by carbonization of polyacrylonitrile was studied both for HNO3 etched and non-etched fibres. Part of the powdered material studied was placed in plasma before it was contacted with cells. To study the material, which was first placed in plasma and then contacted with cells, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used. It was found that the powders made from the etched fibres are phagocytized more intensively. It was also found that the absorption of plasma proteins enhances the phagocytosis only for the fibres oxidized in HNO3 and has no influence in the case of powders obtained from non-etched fibres. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Limited