Effects of morphology, concentration and contact duration of carbon-based nanoparticles on cytotoxicity of l929 cells

Abstract

Study of nanomaterials and their characteristics have added a new dimension to the rapid development of nanotechnology. Carbon-based nanomaterials are considered to be one of the key elements in nanotechnology since they are known to exhibit a variety of unusual properties which make them beneficial in the field of medicine and bioengineering. Nanoparticles, because of their size are capable of entering the human body by different modes and can spread to different parts by physical translocation or chemical clearance processes and hence requires a thorough understanding of their interaction with biological molecules, sub-cellular units, cells, tissues, and oraans. Cytotoxicity of four types of carbon based nanomaterials Carbon Nanowire (CNW), Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs), Graphene and Fullerene, on L929 mouse fibroblast cancerous cells is evaluated by MTT Assay. An analysis based on morphology, concentration and contact duration is discussed in this paper. Graphene was the most toxic material with an average toxicity of 52.24%, followed by CNTs, Fullerene and CNW. The differences in the toxicity levels has been attributed to different structural arrangements and aspect ratio. Lower concentration levels exhibited lower levels of cytotoxicity in three of the four nanomaterials but contact duration failed to show any fixed trend.