Cytotoxicity assessments of thoroughly characterized single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) materials

CHED 311

Danielle A. Victor, danielle.victor@student.utdallas.edu, Makda T Arraya, Robert N Azad, rna051000@utdallas.edu, Erin Kate Walker, erinkatewalker@yahoo.com, Matthew N Wallack, wallackm@utdallas.edu, Ruhung Wang, ruhung.wang@utdallas.edu, and Paul Pantano, pantano@utdallas.edu. Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas, PO Box 830688 Mail Station BE26, Richardson, TX 75080
A major challenge in the field of bionanomedicine is assessing whether SWNTs are inherently cytotoxic. To date, there are roughly as many publications reporting no apparent cytotoxicity, as there are reporting varying degrees of significant cytotoxicity. However, very few of these works present any material characterizations. Our characterization protocol involves both the analysis of the as-received SWNT-containing powders, as well as the solubilized SWNTs. Herein, five lots of SWNT-containing powders were analyzed using TGA, SEM, Raman spectroscopy and XPS. Our SWNT purification protocol involves the solubilization of the as-received powder through sonication and centrifugation in cell culture media. These dispersed SWNTs, or DM-SWNT dispersions, were analyzed using UV-VIS-NIR absorption and Raman spectroscopies and ICP-MS. Finally, the biological response of NRK cells to DM-SWNTs for three lots containing distinct spectral properties were assessed through a doubling time (DT) assay with phase contrast images taken to analyze cell morphologies.