Comparative assessments of the biodistribution and toxicity of oxidized single-walled carbon nanotubes dispersed with two different reagents after intravenous injection

Abstract

The present study compared the effects of two commonly-used dispersants, bovine serum albumin (BSA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG), on the biodistribution and toxicity of oxidized super-growth single-wall carbon nanotubes (oxSG) injected intravenously into mice over 3 months. About 1–2% of the injected dose (ID) of oxSG dispersed in BSA (oxSG-BSA) was present in the lungs at all time points. By contrast, about 15% of the ID of oxSG dispersed in PEG (oxSG-PEG) was present in the lungs at 1 day (D1), with accumulation decreasing to about 5% of the ID at 90 days (D90). About 70–80% of the IDs of both oxSG-BSA and oxSG-PEG were present in the liver at D1; by D90, about 15% of the IDs were cleared slowly (oxSG-BSA) or rapidly (oxSG-PEG). In the spleen, about 7% of the IDs of both oxSG-BSA and oxSG-PEG were present at all time points. The toxicities of oxSG-BSA and oxSG-PEG were comparable: no obvious signs of inflammation were observed on histological assessments of the lungs, liver, and spleen and on measurements of cytokine activity in blood plasma and tissue lysates. Concentrations of aspartate transaminase slightly increased at some time points in blood plasma, suggesting that oxSG-BSA and oxSG-PEG were slightly hepatoxic. Taken together, these results indicated that the dispersants had limited effect on the biodistribution and toxicity of oxSGs.

Keywords:

• Biodistribution
• single wall carbon nanotubes
• hepatoxicity
• dispersant
• NIR optical absorption

Author contributions

Minfang Zhang conceived and designed the experiments. Ying Xu and Minfang Zhang performed the animal experiments. Mei Yang prepared the samples. Minfang Zhang, Mei Yang, Masako Yudasaka, and Toshiya Okazaki analyzed the data. Minfang Zhang wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results, commented on the manuscript, and approved its submission.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research B, 17H02742) and by the ZEON Corporation.