Comparative study of cytotoxicity of detonation nanodiamond particles with an osteosarcoma cell line and primary mesenchymal stem cells

Abstract

Recently, nanodiamonds (NDs) have attracted great interest due to their unique physical and chemical properties that could be used in various biological applications. However, depending on the origin, NDs often contain different impurities which may affect cellular functions and viability. Therefore, before their biomedical application, the cytotoxicity of newly produced NDs should be assessed.In the present study, we have evaluated cytotoxicity of four types of ND particles with two cell models: a human osteosarcoma cell line, MG-63, and primary rat mesenchymal stem cells (rMSCs). Detonation-generated nanodiamond (DND) particles were purified with different acid oxidizers and impurities’ content was determined by elemental analysis. The particles size distribution was measured revealing that the DND particles have an average size in the range of 51–233 nm. Cytotoxicity was assessed by optical microscopy and proliferation assay after 72 hours exposure of the cells to nanoparticles. We observed cell-specific and material-specific toxicity for all tested particles. Primary stem cells demonstrated higher sensitivity to DND particles than osteosarcoma cells. The most toxic were the DND particles with the smallest grain size and slight content of non-diamond carbon, while DNDs with higher grain size and free from impurities had no significant influence on cell proliferation and morphology. In addition, the smaller DND particles were found to form large aggregates mainly during incubation with rMSCs. These results demonstrate the role of the purification method on the properties of DND particles and their cytotoxicity as well as the importance of cell types used for evaluation of the nanomaterials.

Studies on the cytotoxicity of diamond nanoparticles against human cancer cells and lymphocytes

“…Also the experiments conducted by Huang et al [13] and Liu et al [18] with the use of different types of cells (macrophages, HT29, A549 and HFL-1 human cells) confirmed that nanodiamonds did not reduce their viability. On the other hand, it is known that nanodiamond toxicity may be material-, cell-and exposure condition-specific [19,23,32,38]. In most of the experiments concerning nanodiamond toxicity it was found that cell treatment with particles up to 24 h did not result in any toxic effect.…”

“…The authors used two types of cells, rat mesenchymal stem cells (rMSCs) and a human osteosarcoma cell line (MG-63) to find which cells were more sensitive to the studied nanoparticles. It was found that they had different sensitivity towards nanodiamond particles e the cytotoxic effect was more evident in rMSCs [23]. Moreover, the results demonstrated the influence of the purification method on cytotoxicity of nanodiamonds.…”

“…Moreover, the results demonstrated the influence of the purification method on cytotoxicity of nanodiamonds. The nanodiamonds containing non-diamond carbon were most toxic, while those with no impurities showed the lowest cytotoxicity [23].…”

“…Due to the high reactivity of their surface, nanodiamonds are readily contaminated, particularly during synthesis. Diamond nanoparticles produced by detonation are composed of an sp 3 core, sp 2 carbon phase, various functional groups on the surface and also incombustible impurities (metals and oxides) that should be purified for most applications [3,5,22,23]. Different methods are used to purify and then modify the surface of the detonation nanodiamonds.…”

“…Keremidarska et al [23] studied the cytotoxicity of four different types of detonation-generated nanodiamond particles, which were purified with the use of different oxidizers. The authors used two types of cells, rat mesenchymal stem cells (rMSCs) and a human osteosarcoma cell line (MG-63) to find which cells were more sensitive to the studied nanoparticles.…”