Fig. 5

Effects of AgNP on thrombin generation and adhesion of human RBCs to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Thrombin generation was determined by a prothrombinase assay after RBCs were treated (a) with distilled water (DW; control), various concentrations of AgNP and AgMP for 4 h (n = 8), (b) with 100 μg/mL of AgNP along with preincubation with various antioxidants (n = 4) and (c) with 0, 50 and 100 μg/mL of AgNP along with preincubation with EGTA (n = 4). d AgNP- or AgMP-treated RBCs were incubated with HUVECs for 1 h, and then RBCs adhered to HUVECs were counted by microscopic observation (n = 4). e RBCs were pretreated with NAC or EGTA before AgNP treatment, and RBCs were further incubated with HUVECs for 1 h. And then RBCs adhered to HUVECs were counted by microscopic observation (n = 4) or (f) examined using fluorescence microscope as described in methods. Red: glycophorin-A-PE for RBC staining; Green: calcein green for HUVECs staining. Values are mean ± S.E. of 4–8 independent experiments. *represents significant differences from control group (p < 0.05), # represents significant differences from AgNP-treated group (p < 0.05). Scale bars: 100 μm