Cytotoxicity of carbon nanotubes  

作　　者：ZHU Ying1,2 & LI WenXin1 1 Laboratory of Nano-biology and Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China 2 Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China 

出　　处：《Science China Chemistry》2008年第11期1021-1029,共9页中国科学（化学英文版）

基　　金：the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.10475109 and 10775168);Shanghai Municipal Commission for Science and Technology (Grant Nos.0552nm033, 0652nm016 and 0752nm021);the 973 Program(Grant No. 2006CB705605)

摘　　要：With large-scale production and application at large scale, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) may cause ad-verse response to the environment and human health. Thus, study on bio-effects and safety of CNTs has attracted great attention from scientists and governments worldwide. This report briefly summa-rizes the main results from the in vitro toxicity study of CNTs. The emphasis is placed on the descrip-tion of a variety of factors affecting CNTs cytotoxicity, including species of CNTs, impurities contained, lengths of CNTs, aspect ratios, chemical modification, and assaying methods of cytotoxicity. However, experimental information obtained thus far on CNTs' cytotoxicity is lacking in comparability, and some-times there is controversy about it. In order to assess more accurately the potential risks of CNTs to human health, we suggest that care should be taken for issues such as chemical modification and quantitative characterization of CNTs in cytotoxicity assessment. More importantly, studies on physical and chemical mechanisms of CNTs' cytotoxicity should be strengthened; assaying methods and evaluating criteria characterized by nanotoxicology should be gradually established.With large-scale production and application at large scale, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) may cause adverse response to the environment and human health. Thus, study on bio-effects and safety of CNTs has attracted great attention from scientists and governments worldwide. This report briefly summarizes the main results from the in vitro toxicity study of CNTs. The emphasis is placed on the description of a variety of factors affecting CNTs cytotoxicity, including species of CNTs, impurities contained, lengths of CNTs, aspect ratios, chemical modification, and assaying methods of cytotoxicity. However, experimental information obtained thus far on CNTs’ cytotoxicity is lacking in comparability, and sometimes there is controversy about it. In order to assess more accurately the potential risks of CNTs to human health, we suggest that care should be taken for issues such as chemical modification and quantitative characterization of CNTs in cytotoxicity assessment. More importantly, studies on physical and chemical mechanisms of CNTs’ cytotoxicity should be strengthened; assaying methods and evaluating criteria characterized by nanotoxicology should be gradually established.

关 键 词：CARBON NANOTUBES (CNTs) cell bio-security 

分 类 号：TB383.1[一般工业技术—材料科学与工程]