Remeniak O. Generation of reactive oxygen species by photoexcited carbon nanotubes and their hyperthermic effect in vitro

Object: carbon nanotubes. Aim: study the toxic action of carbon nanotubes in suspensions of normal and transformed cells, their ability to generate the reactive oxygen species under the near infrared irradiation and to cause the hyperthermic effect in vitro. Methods: electron microscopy, optical microscopy, infrared and Raman spectroscopy, non-stationary current-voltage characteristics, MTT test, ectron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, differential cooper-constantan thermocouple. Results: the results extend contribute to developing methods for the controlled generation of reactive oxygen species, aiming at the destruction of tumor cells. Ability of multi-walled carbon nanotubes under exposure to near IR-light locally heated to high temperatures can be used in hyperthermic therapy of malignant tumors. Novelty: it was established that carbon nanotubes increase the conductivity of bimolecular lipid membranes and showed to have the hemolytic and cytotoxic effects. For the first time it was established that the multiwalled carbon nanotubes irradiated by NIR-light generate reactive oxygen in water and cell suspensions. It was found the considerable heating both in the aqueous suspension of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and transformed cell suspensions in the presence of multiwalled carbon nanotubes during their exposure to NIR-light, which led to a significant reduction in the number of viable cells (~95%). Field of the use: biophysics, biochemistry, molecular biology, pharmacology, oncology.