Dispersion state and toxicity of mwCNTs in cell culture medium with different T80 concentrations

In this study, size distribution, zeta potential, shape, and toxicity of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (mwCNTs), and effect of non-ionic detergent Tween 80 (T80) concentrations (0%, 0.2%, and 1%) on the dispersion quality and cell viability are investigated. Nanotubes are suspended in biological solutions (DMEM, RPMI) with three different concentrations (10, 50, and 100 μg/ml) and toxicological investigations are carried on human T-cell leukemia (Jurkat) and human pancreatic carcinoma (PANC1) cell lines. According to light and transmission electron microscopy results, mwCNTs form well-defined and regular bundles in the presence of 1% T80 surfactant; whereas more irregular structures are present in absence of T80. Dispersion quality is represented in terms of the size distribution from dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiments and its second moment. Dispersion quality of the mwCNTs decreases with decreasing T80 concentration, while the constituents of RPMI and DMEM increase the dispersion quality. No significant differences between the dispersive effects of RPMI and DMEM suspensions are observed. Zeta potential of the mwCNTs is measured using electrophoretic light scattering. Variations in the nanotube and T80 concentrations do not change the zeta potential significantly. T80 concentrations above 0.2% are found to be toxic for Jurkat andPANC1 cells.