About the Authors

Anna A. Shvedova

Affiliation Pathology and Physiology Research Branch, Health Effects Lab Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America

Alexandr A. Kapralov

Affiliations Center for Free Radical and Antioxidant Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Wei Hong Feng

Affiliations Center for Free Radical and Antioxidant Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Elena R. Kisin

Affiliation Pathology and Physiology Research Branch, Health Effects Lab Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America

Ashley R. Murray

Affiliation Pathology and Physiology Research Branch, Health Effects Lab Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America

Robert R. Mercer

Affiliation Pathology and Physiology Research Branch, Health Effects Lab Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America

Claudette M. St. Croix

Affiliation Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Megan A. Lang

Affiliation Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Simon C. Watkins

Affiliation Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Nagarjun V. Konduru

Affiliations Center for Free Radical and Antioxidant Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Brett L. Allen

Affiliation Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Jennifer Conroy

Affiliation Department of Clinical Medicine, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

Gregg P. Kotchey

Affiliation Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Bashir M. Mohamed

Affiliation Department of Clinical Medicine, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

Aidan D. Meade

Affiliation School of Physics, College of Science and Health, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin, Ireland

Yuri Volkov

Affiliations Department of Clinical Medicine, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, Center for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

Alexander Star

Affiliation Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Bengt Fadeel

Affiliation Division of Molecular Toxicology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Valerian E. Kagan

kagan@pitt.edu

Affiliations Center for Free Radical and Antioxidant Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: AAS VEK BF AS. Performed the experiments: ERK ARM RM AAS. Analyzed the data: AAS VEK BF AS. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: BLA GPK SA. Wrote the paper: AAS VEK BF AS. Performed animal exposures and obtained tissue samples and prepared tissue section: AK WF NVK. Conducted Raman microscopic and electron microscopic studies: CMS ML SW. Carried out the optical image analysis: JC BMM ADM YV.