Nanotoxicology articles within NPG Asia Materials

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• Original Article
  05 April 2013 | Open Access

  Biodistribution and pulmonary toxicity of intratracheally instilled graphene oxide in mice

  Nanoscale graphene oxide (NGO) has emerged as extremely attractive nanomaterials for diagnostics and therapeutics. In this work, we present a systematic study on the in vivo distribution and pulmonary toxicity of NGO for up to 3 months after exposure. Radioisotope tracing and morphological observation demonstrated that intratracheally instilled NGO was mainly retained in the lung. NGO could result in acute lung injury (ALI) and chronic pulmonary fibrosis, which raises environmental concerns about the large-scale production of graphene oxide. Nevertheless, we also noted that the NGO-induced ALI was related to oxidative stress and could effectively be relieved with dexamethasone treatment.

  • Bo Li
  • , Jianzhong Yang
  •  & Chunhai Fan

• Original Article
  07 December 2012 | Open Access

  The contributions of metal impurities and tube structure to the toxicity of carbon nanotube materials

  The key factor and mechanism for reported toxicity of CNTs are unclear. Here we firstly quantify the contribution of metal residues and fiber structure to the toxicity of CNTs. Significant quantities of metal can be mobilized from CNTs into surrounding fluids, depending on the properties and constituent of biological microenvironment and metal particles. Hydroxyl radicals were generated by CNT containing metal impurities and leachable metal, while several inherent biomolecules facilitate the generation of free radical. Cell viability is highly dependent on the amount of metal residues and iron in particular but not tube structure, while the negative effect of CNT was limited in a certain concentration range below 80 μg ml⁻¹.

  • Cuicui Ge
  • , Yang Li
  •  & Chunying Chen