Assessing cytotoxicity of boron nitride nanotubes: Interference with the MTT assay.
Thanks to a non-covalent wrapping with glycol-chitosan, highly biocompatible and highly concentrated dispersions of boron nitride nanotubes were obtained and tested on human neuroblastoma cells. A systematic investigation of the cytotoxicity of these nanovectors with several complementary qualitative and quantitative assays allowed a strong interference with the MTT metabolic assay to be highlighted, similar to a phenomenon already observed for carbon nanotubes, that would wrongly suggest toxicity of boron nitride nanotubes. These results confirm the high complexity of these new nanomaterials, and the needing of extensive investigations on their exciting potential applications in the biomedical field.
Italian Institute of Technology, Smart Materials Lab, Center of MicroBioRobotics at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, 56025 Pontedera (Pisa), Italy. g.ciofani@sssup.it
Gianni
G
Ciofani
Serena
S
Danti
Delfo
D
D'Alessandro
Stefania
S
Moscato
Arianna
A
Menciassi
D001896:Boron Compounds / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D013844:Thiazoles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D018675:Toxicity Tests
D001896:Boron Compounds; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts; D013844:Thiazoles; C118638:glycol-chitosan; C017282:boron nitride; D048271:Chitosan; C022616:thiazolyl blue