Non‐thrombotic and haemocompatible amine‐modified graphene is a safer alternative to graphene oxide for biomedical use

Abstract

Graphene, a two‐dimensional nanocarbon allotrope has grabbed the attention of scientists and has been explored for a wide range of biomedical applications. However, we have recently reported graphene oxide (GO) to be highly thrombogenic in mice by evoking aggregation of platelets the central players in haemostasis and thrombosis. This potentially limits biomedical applications of graphene. Surface chemistry of nanomaterials is a critical determinant of biocompatibility and thus differentially functionalized nanomaterials could exhibit varied cellular toxicity. We, therefore, evaluated the effect of amine‐modification of graphene on its platelet reactivity. Remarkably, our results revealed that unlike GO amine‐modified graphene (G‐NH2) neither stimulated human platelets in vitro, nor induce pulmonary thromboembolism in vivo in mice. Furthermore, it did not evoke hemolysis and exhibited no cytotoxicity towards THP‐1 cell line even on prolonged exposure. These findings contrasted strikingly with those from GO and RGO, which were found to exhibit significant platelet stimulatory and hemolytic effect. We conclude that, G‐NH2 is potentially safer for in vivo biomedical applications than other commonly investigated graphene derivatives. The work was funded by DBT, ICMR and DST, Government of India, and FCT, Portugal.