title: Multi-walled carbon nanotubes induce T lymphocyte apoptosis.
abstract: Carbon nanotubes are a man-made form of carbon that did not exist in our environment until very recently. Due to their unique chemical, physical, optical, and magnetic properties, carbon nanotubes have found many uses in industrial products and in the field of nanotechnology, including in nanomedicine. However, very little is yet known about the toxicity of carbon nanotubes. Here, we compare the toxicity of pristine and oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes on human T cells and find that the latter are more toxic and induce massive loss of cell viability through programmed cell death at doses of 400 microg/ml, which corresponds to approximately 10 million carbon nanotubes per cell. Pristine, hydrophobic, carbon nanotubes were less toxic and a 10-fold lower concentration of either carbon nanotube type were not nearly as toxic. Our results suggest that carbon nanotubes indeed can be very toxic at sufficiently high concentrations and that careful toxicity studies need to be undertaken particularly in conjunction with nanomedical applications of carbon nanotubes.
authors.affiliation: Infectious and Inflammatory Disease Center, The Burnham Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bottini
authors.forename: Shane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bruckner
authors.forename: Konstantina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nika
authors.forename: Nunzio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bottini
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bellucci
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Magrini
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bergamaschi
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mustelin
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell