title: Cytotoxicity Investigation on Cultured Human Blood Cells Treated with Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes.
abstract: The single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are one of the new materials ofemerging technologies. They are becoming increasingly studied for the possibleapplications in electronics, optics and biology. In particular, very promising fields ofapplication are the development of optical biosensors and the intracellular drug delivery.Nevertheless, there is a paucity of information on their toxicological properties and onpotential human health risk. In the present study the SWCNTs were investigated for thepossible induction of toxicity in human blood cells. Cell growth, viability, apoptosis andmetabolic activity were evaluated in proliferating human peripheral blood lymphocytes. Inun-stimulated human leukocytes primary DNA damage was also evaluated. SWCNTsconcentrations ranging from 1 to 50 μg/ml were tested, and treatment duration varied from6 to 72 h, in accordance with the biological target investigated. A statistically significantdecrease in cell growth was found in cells treated with the highest concentrations (25 and50 μg/ml). Such decrease was not associated to cell death or apoptosis, but it wasdemonstrated to be related to a decrease in metabolic activity, as assessed by resazurinassay. Moreover, treatments of 6 h with SWCNTs concentrations of 1, 5 and 10 μg/mlfailed to induce primary DNA damage on the entire human leukocytes population.
authors.affiliation: Istituto per il Rilevamento Elettromagnetico dell'Ambiente (IREA) - CNR, Via Diocleziano, 328, 80124 Napoli, Italy. zeni.o@irea.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zeni
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini (IBB) - CNR, Via Mezzocannone, 16, 80137 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosanna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Palumbo
authors.affiliation: Istituto per il Rilevamento Elettromagnetico dell'Ambiente (IREA) - CNR, Via Diocleziano, 328, 80124 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Romeo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bernini
authors.affiliation: Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell' Informazione (DII), Aversa, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zeni
authors.affiliation: Istituto per il Rilevamento Elettromagnetico dell'Ambiente (IREA) - CNR, Via Diocleziano, 328, 80124 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sarti
authors.affiliation: Istituto per il Rilevamento Elettromagnetico dell'Ambiente (IREA) - CNR, Via Diocleziano, 328, 80124 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Rosaria
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Scarfì
keywords: Human blood cells; carbon nanotubes; cytotoxicity; metabolic activity