Background Silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) enter the human body through respiratory tract, digestive tract, and skin, causing body damage. Lung is one of the main damaged organs.

Objective To observe the expressions of complement activated fragment C3a and its receptor C3aR in the lungs of mice exposed to SiNPs through respiratory tract, and to explore the involvement of C3a/C3aR in lung injury induced by SiNPs exposure.

Methods The ultrastructure of SiNPs (particle size 5-20 nm) was determined under a transmission electron microscope, and the hydrodynamic diameter and surface Zeta potential of SiNPs were determined using a nanoparticle size analyzer. A total of 88 SPF C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into five groups: a blank control group without any treatment (14 mice), a vehicle control group treated with 50 μL stroke-physiological saline solution by intratracheal instillation (14 mice), and three SiNPs exposure groups (low-dose group, medium-dose group, and high-dose group with 20 mice in each group, who were given 50 μL SiNPs suspension of 7, 21, and 35 mg·kg⁻¹ respectively and exposed once every 3 days for 5 times). The mice were anesthetized on day 1 (1-day model group) and day 15 (15-day model group) after exposure, then sacrificed after extraction of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and lung tissues were retained. The morphological changes of lung tissues were observed by HE staining, the expression level of C3a in BALF was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the deposition of C3a and C3aR in lung tissues were observed by immunohistochemistry, the protein expression level of C3aR was determined by Western blotting, and the localization and semi-quantitative detection of C3a and C3aR in lung tissues was observed by immunofluorescence.

Results SiNPs agglomerated in stroke-physiological saline solution. The average hydrodynamic diameter was (185.60±7.39) nm and the absolute value of Zeta potential was (43.33±0.76) mV. The condition of mice in the 1-day model group and the 15-day model group was good, while 2 mice died in the medium-dose group of the 1-day model group due to misoperation. The autopsy results of the two mice showed congestion of the lung tissue, emphysema, and no imperfection of trachea integrity. No death was observed in other dose groups. The HE staining results showed pathological damage to the mouse lung, including alveolar wall thickening and inflammatory cell infiltration after SiNPs exposure. The pathological damage became more serious with the increase of dose. Regarding pathological changes, the 15-day model group was slightly relieved compared with the 1-day model group, but there were still pathological changes. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay results showed that there was no difference in the expression level of C3a between the blank control group and the vehicle control group (P＞0.05), the expression levels of C3a in the medium-dose group and the high-dose group were significantly higher than that in the vehicle control group (P<0.05). The immunohistochemistry results showed that C3a deposition was consistent with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay results. The Western blotting and the immunohistochemistry results showed that C3aR expression was low in the blank control group and the vehicle control group, while the expression in each dose group tended to increase with the increase of dose. The immunofluorescence results showed that the fluorescence signals of C3a and C3aR were weak in the blank control group and the vehicle control group in the 1-day model group and the 15-day model group, while the fluorescence signals in the lung tissues of mice in the SiNPs exposure groups tended to increase with the increase of dose.

Conclusion The increased expressions of C3a and C3aR in complement activation may be related to lung injury induced by intratracheal instillation of SiNPs, suggesting that C3a/C3aR may be involved in lung injury induced by SiNPs exposure.