The possible analgesic effect of graphene oxide (GO)

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO), which is an oxidised derivative of graphene, is considered to be one of the recently emerging and attractive nanomaterials for biomedical applications. It has very interesting properties, such as nanometric size, specific surface area and electrical charge. The prospects for applications are accompanied by major concerns about its biosafety for human health. However, several studies show that nanomaterials used in biomedicine have an impact on health, which has not yet been well studied for GO. Thus, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of GO on the nervous system in male mice. After synthesizing these nanoparticles, size analysis was performed using a Mastersizer 3000 laser diffraction apparatus. The behavioural effects of this nanomaterial were studied after intraperitoneal injection of GO to mice at different doses (2 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg) for 5 days, using the hot plate test. The results of the particle size analysis showed that our nanomaterial has a uniform distribution, with an average grain size of about 50 nm, which means that our sample has a nanometric size. On the other hand, the results of the hot plate test showed that there is an analgesic effect. In summary, these results show that GO induced neural effects in mice, but the mechanism by which this occurs requires further study.Keywords: Analgesic effect, graphene oxide, male mice, nervous system, nanometric size.