Milena De Nicola et al 2007 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 19 395013 doi:10.1088/0953-8984/19/39/395013
Milena De Nicola1, Daniele Mirabile Gattia2, Stefano Bellucci3, Giovanni De Bellis3, Federico Micciulla3, Roberto Pastore3, Alessandra Tiberia3, Claudia Cerella1, Maria D'Alessio1, Marco Vittori Antisari2, Renzo Marazzi2, Enrico Traversa4, Andrea Magrini5, Antonio Bergamaschi6 and Lina Ghibelli1,7
Show affiliationsCarbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a focus of intense research for their potential applications in multiple diverse applications, including innovative biomedical applications. Due to their very recent discovery, little information is available about the biocompatibility and toxicity of this new class of nanoparticle, and a systematic study on biological interference is lacking. Thus, we decided to explore the toxicity of three different types of carbon nanotube, differing in preparation (arc discharge versus catalysed chemical vapour deposition); size (10–50 versus 100–150 nm wide × 1–10 µm long); contaminants (amorphous C, graphite, fullerenes or iron) and morphological type (multi-walled, MW, or single-walled, SW) on human leukemic U937 cells. We found that these carbon nanotubes exert a strong effect on the proliferation of the reporter U937 monocytic cell. However, these CNTs did not significantly affect the cell viability. These results show that CNTs, though not directly exerting a direct cytotoxic effect, are nonetheless able to deeply alter cell behaviour, and thus we recommend thorough analyses to limit health risk due to uncontrolled exposure.
Issue 39 (3 October 2007)
Received 22 February 2007, in final form 18 May 2007
Published 30 August 2007
Milena De Nicola et al 2007 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 19 395013
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