The Effect of Various Carbon Nanotubes on Barley Germination

Abstract

Objective: Carbon nanotubes (CNT), one of the most important carbon-based nanomaterials, have started to be used in the fields of biology and medicine. Drug delivery, cancer treatment, biosensors, biomedical imaging and their use as composite materials in tissue engineering are some of the biomedical applications. However, their extensive applications may increase the risk of their being released into the environment. Thus, in this study, we investigated the effects of different carbon on barley (Hordeum vulgare L. 'Zeynelağa') germination. Material and Method:In addition to usage of commercial single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CCNT) have also synthesized carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes and characterized them with FTIR spectroscopy. Later, we investigated the effect of different concentrations (50 and 100 mg/L) of carbon nanotubes on the germination of barley seeds.Results: Compared to control groups, treatment of barley seeds with different concentrations of three carbon nanotubes had no effect on barley germination. Conclusion:It was observed that tested carbon nanotubes have no toxic effect on barley germination. In addition to these data, it is also important to investigate whether there is a difference in the gene expression level in order to understand the actual effect of these materials.