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5 years ago

Size Effect on the Cytotoxicity of Layered Black Phosphorus and Underlying Mechanisms

Size Effect on the Cytotoxicity of Layered Black Phosphorus and Underlying Mechanisms
Baoshan Xing, Xuejiao Zhang, Dengyu Li, ChuanXin Ma, Qingfeng Yan, Qing Zhao, Siyu Zhang, Ziming Zhang, Fengchang Wu, Wei Ma
A systematic cytotoxicity study of layered black phosphorus (BP) is urgently needed before moving forward to its potential biomedical applications. Herein, bulk BP crystals are synthesized and exfoliated into layered BP with different lateral size and thickness. The cytotoxicity of as-exfoliated layered BP is evaluated by a label-free real-time cell analysis technique, displaying a concentration-, size-, and cell type-dependent response. The IC50 values can vary by 40 and 30 times among the BP sizes and cell types, respectively. BP-1 with the largest lateral size and thickness has the highest cytotoxicity; whereas the smallest BP-3 only shows moderate toxicity. The sensitivity of three tested cell lines follows the sequence of 293T > NIH 3T3 > HCoEpiC. Two possible mechanisms for BP to induce cytotoxicity are proposed and verified: (1) the generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) is detected by a ROS sensitive probe using the inverted fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry; (2) the interaction of layered BP and model cell membrane is examined by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation, illustrating the disruption of cell membrane integrity especially by the largest BP-1. This systematic study of BP's cytotoxicity will shed light on its future biomedical and environmental applications. Bulk black phosphorus (BP) crystals are synthesized and exfoliated into layered BP with different lateral size and thickness. The results of real-time cell analysis display a concentration-, size-, and cell type-dependent cytotoxicity of layered BP. The cytotoxicity originates from the intracellular reactive oxygen species generation and cell membrane disruption, but only the latter is related to size effect.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/smll.201701210

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