Issue 43, 2023

One-year post-exposure assessment of 14C-few-layer graphene biodistribution in mice: single versus repeated intratracheal administration

Abstract

Research on graphene-based nanomaterials has experienced exponential growth in the last few decades, driven by their unique properties and their future potential impact on our everyday life. With the increasing production and commercialization of these materials, there is significant interest in understanding their fate in vivo. Herein, we investigated the distribution of 14C-few-layer graphene (14C-FLG) flakes (lat. dim. ∼ 500 nm) in mice over a period of one year. Furthermore, we compared the effects of repeated low-dose and acute high-dose exposure by tracheal administration. The results showed that most of the radioactivity was found in the lungs in both cases, with longer elimination times in the case of acute high-dose administration. In order to gain deeper insights into the distribution pattern, we conducted ex vivo investigations using μ-autoradiography on tissue sections, revealing the heterogeneous distribution of the material following administration. For the first time, μ-autoradiography was used to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the distribution and potential presence of FLG within lung cells isolated from the exposed lungs. The presence of radioactivity in lung cells strongly suggests internalization of the 14C-FLG particles. Overall these results show the long-term accumulation of the material in the lungs over one year, regardless of the administration protocol, and the higher biopersistence of FLG in the case of an acute exposure. These findings highlight the importance of the exposure scenario in the context of intratracheal administration, which is of interest in the evaluation of the potential health risks of graphene-based nanomaterials.

Graphical abstract: One-year post-exposure assessment of 14C-few-layer graphene biodistribution in mice: single versus repeated intratracheal administration

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Jul 2023
Accepted
04 Oct 2023
First published
11 Oct 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale, 2023,15, 17621-17632

One-year post-exposure assessment of 14C-few-layer graphene biodistribution in mice: single versus repeated intratracheal administration

A. Sallustrau, M. Keck, P. Barbe, D. Georgin, N. Fresneau, S. Campidelli, B. Pibaleau, M. Pinault, M. Mayne-L'Hermite, C. Granotier-Beckers, M. Schlegel, V. J. González, E. Vázquez, D. Servent and F. Taran, Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 17621 DOI: 10.1039/D3NR03711H

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements