Abstract
To induce the water solubility of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), we exfoliated and functionalized bulk h-BN with hydroxyl groups (h-BN-OH-n). Short-term studies showed that h-BN-OH-n induced low cytotoxicity in different models: insect haemocytes (in vivo), human erythrocytes and mouse fibroblasts (in vitro). We also demonstrated that Alexa Fluor 647-h-BN-OH-n administered topically to the insects passed through the cuticle barrier and was phagocytosed by haemocytes. Nanoflakes did not affect the haemocyte cell membrane and did not interfere with the phagocytosis of latex beads. Long-term immunoassays showed that h-BN-OH-n, despite not inducing haemocytotoxicity, impaired nodulation, the most important cellular immune response in insects. The haemocytes exposed to h-BN-OH-n and then to bacteria differed in morphology and adhesiveness from the haemocytes exposed only to bacteria and exhibited the same morphology and adhesiveness as the control haemocytes. The h-BN-OH-n-induced decrease in nodulation can therefore result from the reduced ability of haemocytes to recognize bacteria, migrate to them or form microaggregates around them, which can lead to dysfunction of the immune system during pathogen infection. Long-term in vivo studies with animal models are still necessary to unambiguously confirm that h-BN is biocompatible and useful for application as a platform for drug delivery or for bioimaging.
Highlights
Boron nitride (BN), known as white graphene, is a structural analogue of graphene in which C atoms are replaced by alternating B and N atoms
This study shows that the functionalization of the hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) material with hydroxyl groups significantly increased its hydrophilicity and, as a result, enabled h-BN-OH to disperse stably in aqueous solution
This study shows that the functionalization of the h-BN by hydroxyl groups significantly increased the hydrophilicity of this material, enabling it to disperse in aqueous solutions in the form of nanoflakes
Summary
Boron nitride (BN), known as white graphene, is a structural analogue of graphene in which C atoms are replaced by alternating B and N atoms. At lower doses (0.25 mg/ml), h-BN did not affect the morphology of HEK293 cells, whereas increasing the dose of this nanomaterial caused remarkable changes in the cell morphology[1] These results suggest that, at low doses, BNs are promising nanomaterials suitable for many biomedical applications, including bioimaging, boron neutron capture therapy, drug/peptide/DNA/RNA delivery, and fabrication of advanced implants, etc.[1,12]. Using various in vivo and in vitro methods, we examined the action of the h-BN-OH nanoflakes (h-BN-OH-n) on miscellaneous cellular models: insect haemocytes, human erythrocytes and mouse fibroblasts (the L929 cell line) to detect the possible adverse short- and long-term effects induced by this nanomaterial. The use of haemocytes for the in vivo study of the h-BN-OH-n action enabled the detection of any undesirable effects induced by this nanomaterial during the immune response in T. molitor
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