Biosafety and Antibacterial Ability of Graphene and Graphene Oxide In Vitro and In Vivo

• Published in: Nanoscale research letters Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 564 - 9
• Main Authors: Pang, Long, Dai, Chunqiu, Bi, Long, Guo, Zhongshang, Fan, Junjun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 12-10-2017; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Antibacterial ability; Biocompatibility; Biosafety; Bone marrow; Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells; Cell culture; Chemistry and Materials Science; Cytotoxicity; Graphene; Graphene oxide; Materials Science; Mesenchymal stem cells; Mesenchyme; Molecular Medicine; Muscles; Nano Express; Nanochemistry; Nanoparticles; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Rodents; Safety critical; Stem cell transplantation; Stem cells; Surgery; Surgical implants; Toxicity; Nanoparticles; Biocompatibility; Graphene oxide; Antibacterial ability; Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells; Graphene
• ISSN: 1931-7573; 1556-276X
• DOI: 10.1186/s11671-017-2317-0

In recent years, graphene (G) and graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles have begun to be applied in surgical implant surface modification. However, biosafety and antibacterial ability of G and GO are still unclear. In this study, the biosafety of G and GO in vitro was evaluated by co-culture with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and biosafety in vivo was observed by implanting materials into mice muscle tissue. Biosafety results showed that 10 μg/ml was the safety critical concentration for G and GO. When the concentration was more than 10 μg/ml, the cytotoxicity of G and GO showed a dose-dependent manner.
Antibacterial results showed that G presented the antibacterial ability with the concentration equal to and more than 100 μg/ml; GO presented the antibacterial ability with the concentration equal to and more than 50 μg/ml. The antibacterial effect of G and GO were in a dose-dependent manner in vitro.
The GO or G concentration between 50 and 100 μg/ml may be the better range to keep the balance of cytotoxicity and antibacterial ability. Our study reveals that G and GO have potential to be used in clinic with good biosafety and antibacterial properties in a certain concentration range.