Issue 5, 2020

Toxicity of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs): effect of lengths, functional groups and electronic structures revealed by a quantitative toxicogenomics assay

Abstract

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are a group of widely used carbon-based nanomaterials (CNMs) with various applications, which have caused increasing public concerns associated with their potential toxicological effects on and risks to humans and ecosystems. In this report, we comprehensively evaluated the nanotoxicity of SWCNTs and its relationship to varying lengths, functional groups and electronic structures, by employing both a newly established quantitative toxicogenomics test and conventional phenotypic bioassays. The objective is to reveal the potential cellular toxicity and mechanisms of SWCNTs at the molecular level, and to probe their potential relationships with the SWCNTs' morphological, surface, and electronic properties. The results indicated that DNA damage and oxidative stress were the dominant mechanisms of action for all the SWCNTs, and the toxicity level and characteristics varied with length, surface functionalization and electronic structure. Distinguishable molecular toxicity fingerprints were revealed for the two SWCNTs with varying length, with the short SWCNT exhibiting a higher toxicity level than the long one. In terms of surface properties, SWCNT functionalization, namely carboxylation and hydroxylation, led to elevated overall toxicity, especially genotoxicity, as compared to the unmodified SWCNT. The carboxylated SWCNT induced a greater toxicity than the hydroxylated SWCNT. The nucleus is likely the primary target site for long, short, and carboxylated SWCNTs and mechanical perturbation is likely responsible for the DNA damage, specifically related to degradation of the DNA double helix structure. Finally, a dramatically different electronic structure-dependent toxicity was observed with the metallic SWCNT exerting a much higher toxicity than the semiconducting one which exhibited minimal toxicity among all the SWCNTs.

Graphical abstract: Toxicity of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs): effect of lengths, functional groups and electronic structures revealed by a quantitative toxicogenomics assay

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
02 Нау. 2020
Accepted
07 Сәу. 2020
First published
29 Сәу. 2020

Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2020,7, 1348-1364

Author version available

Toxicity of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs): effect of lengths, functional groups and electronic structures revealed by a quantitative toxicogenomics assay

T. Jiang, C. A. Amadei, N. Gou, Y. Lin, J. Lan, C. D. Vecitis and A. Z. Gu, Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2020, 7, 1348 DOI: 10.1039/D0EN00230E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, 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 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