ABSTRACT
In the past few years, much work has been performed to explore the biomedical applications and toxicity of nano-graphene and its derivatives. However, the reproductive toxicity of those carbon nanomaterials has been rarely studied. In this study, we report on the male reproductive toxicity of nanoscale graphene oxide (GO) using a mouse model. The results showed that the adult male mice injected with high dosages of GO (25 mg/kg mouse) via the tail vein exhibited normal sex hormone secretion and retained normal reproductive activity. All untreated female mice mated with the GO-treated male mice could produce healthy pups. There were no significant differences in pup numbers, sex ratio, weights, pup survival rates or pup growth over time between the GO-treated and control groups. Furthermore, these GO-treated male mice could produce a second, third, fourth and even fifth litter of healthy offspring when they lived with the untreated female mice. The testicular and epididymal histology as well as the activities of several important epididymal enzymes including α-glucosidase, lactate dehydrogenase, glutathione peroxidase and acid phosphatase were not affected by GO treatment. In addition, no damaging effects were seen at high dose rates of GO (total 300 mg/kg male mouse, 60 mg/kg every 24 h for 5 days) via intra-abdominal injection. Thus, GO showed very low or nearly no toxicity for male reproduction. This work will greatly enable future investigations of GO nanosheets for in vivo biomedical applications.
Subject(s)
Graphite/toxicity , Nanostructures/toxicity , Oxides/toxicity , Reproduction/drug effects , Animals , Behavior, Animal/drug effects , Body Weight/drug effects , Epididymis/drug effects , Epididymis/pathology , Female , Graphite/chemistry , Hormones/blood , Male , Mice , Mice, Inbred ICR , Nanostructures/chemistry , Oxides/chemistry , Particle Size , Spermatozoa/drug effects , Spermatozoa/pathology , Testis/drug effects , Testis/pathology , Tissue DistributionABSTRACT
Among carbon-based nanomaterials, activated carbon (AC) may be an ideal candidate as a carrier for tumor therapeutic agents. Here we found a new property of nanoscale activated carbon (NAC) with narrow size distribution, namely the rapid conversion of light to thermal energy both in vitro and in vivo. An aqueous suspension of 200 µL of NAC (1 mg/mL) exhibited a rapid temperature increase of more than 35 °C after irradiation for 20 min with a 655-nm laser; this was within the temperature range for effective tumor treatment. We demonstrated that lung cancer cells (H-1299) incubated with bamboo nano-AC (BNAC) were killed with high efficiency after laser irradiation. In addition, mouse tumors with sizes smaller than the laser spot that had been injected with BNAC disappeared after irradiation. For tumors larger than the laser spot area, the incorporation of the photosensitizer ZnPc obviously increased the tumor growth inhibition efficiency of BNAC. BNAC-ZnPc was found to exhibit a synergistic effect when photothermal and photodynamic therapies were administered in combination. These results indicated that NAC can be used for high efficiency cancer phototherapy.
