Biological impact of as-produced and purified Single Wall Carbon Nanotube in Kidney epithelial cells

Single Wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), due to their unique and outstanding properties, have generated extraordinary interest and expectations for industrial and biomedical applications. The increasing mass production of SWCNT requires their biocompatibility studies to prevent the possible health hazards among workers involved in the research, manufacturing of these materials and in the general public. The as‐produced and purified SWCNT were characterized by FESEM, TEM, FTIR and the purity was checked by TGA and EDS. Kidney epithelial cell lines were used to investigate the biological impact induced by as‐produced and purified SWCNT. Our results showed a significant amount of incorporation of dUTPs in the nucleus in the as‐produced single wall carbon nanotube confirming the induction of apoptosis, which was also validated by DNA fragmentation assay. The activity of caspases‐3 and caspase‐8 in as‐produced SWCNT increased in a dose and time dependent manner in comparison with the purified SWCNT parallel to the morphological apoptosis. Also the decrease in the antioxidants levels like SOD, GSH was in a higher ratio with the as‐produced SWCNT compared to purified SWCNT. Together, we present a complete evaluation of stress levels induced, antioxidants depletion, activation of caspase cascade by as‐produced and purified SWCNTs.