Graphene Quantum Dots Nanoparticles Research Articles

In vitro genotoxicity assessment of graphene quantum dots nanoparticles: A metabolism-dependent response

Nanomaterials are progressively being applied in different areas, including biomedical uses. Carbon nanomaterials are relevant for biomedical sciences because of their biocompatibility properties. Graphene quantum dots (GQD) have a substantial potential in drug-delivery nanostructured biosystems, but there is still a lack of toxicological information regarding their effects on human health and the environment. We thus evaluated the mutagenicity, cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of this nanomaterial using alternative methods applied in regulatory toxicology guidelines. The Ames test was carried out in the presence and absence of exogenous metabolization. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium strains TA97a, TA98, TA100, TA102, TA104, and TA1535 were exposed to GQD with concentrations ranging from 1 to 1000 μg/plate. The mammal cell viability assays were carried out with HepG2 and 3T3BalbC cell lineages and the in vitro Cytokinesis-Block Micronucleus assay (CBMN) was applied for 24 h of exposure in non-cytotoxic concentrations. Mutagenicity was induced in the TA97a strain in the absence of exogenous metabolization, but not in its presence. Mutagenicity was also detected in the TA102 strain in the assay with exogenous metabolization, suggesting redox misbalance mutagenicity. The WST-1 and LDH assays demonstrated that GQD decreased cell viability, especially in 3T3BalbC cells, which showed more sensitivity to the nanomaterial. GQD also increased micronuclei formation in 3T3BalbC and caused a cytostatic effect. No significant impact on HepG2 micronuclei formation was observed. Different metabolic systems interfered with the mutagenic, cytotoxic, and genotoxic effects of GQD, indicating that liver metabolism has a central role in the detoxification of this nanomaterial.

A Strategy for Microwave-Controlled Release of Anticancer Drugs: (Fe3O4/nGO)@mSiO2/GQDs Nanocomposite Carrier Jointly Enhanced by nGO and GQDs

We constructed a multifunctional (Fe3O4/nGO)@mSiO2/GQDs drug carrier for loading and microwave-controlled release of an etoposide (VP16) as the anticancer drug. This nanocomposite consisted of magnetic core Fe3O4, microwave-absorbing nanographene oxide (nGO), fluorescent graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and intermediate barrier layer (mesoporous silica). It has a large surface area of 359.8[Formula: see text]m2/g, excellent fluorescence emission and ample magnetic performance of 36.00[Formula: see text]emu/g. After microwave irradiation for 140 s, the temperature of (Fe3O4/nGO)@mSiO2/GQDs nanoparticles rapidly went up to 90∘C. The loading rate of VP16 was as high as 68%, the release rate reached 87% within 280[Formula: see text]min under microwave irradiation. Therefore, the functionalized (Fe3O4/nGO)@mSiO2/GQDs nanoparticles will have potential application for clinical treatment as drug delivery system.

The Effect of Nanosystems on ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters: Understanding the Influence of Nanosystems on Multidrug Resistance Protein-1 and P-glycoprotein.

The cancer multidrug resistance is involved in the failure of several treatments during cancer treatment. It is a phenomenon that has been receiving great attention in the last years due to the sheer amount of mechanisms discovered and involved in the process of resistance which hinders the effectiveness of many anti-cancer drugs. Among the mechanisms involved in the multidrug resistance, the participation of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters is the main one. The ABC transporters are a group of plasma membrane and intracellular organelle proteins involved in the process of externalization of substrates from cells, which are expressed in cancer. They are involved in the clearance of intracellular metabolites as ions, hormones, lipids and other small molecules from the cell, affecting directly and indirectly drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion. Other mechanisms responsible for resistance are the signaling pathways and the anti- and pro-apoptotic proteins involved in cell death by apoptosis. In this study we evaluated the influence of three nanosystem (Graphene Quantum Dots (GQDs), mesoporous silica (MSN) and poly-lactic nanoparticles (PLA)) in the main mechanism related to the cancer multidrug resistance such as the Multidrug Resistance Protein-1 and P-glycoprotein. We also evaluated this influence in a group of proteins involved in the apoptosis-related resistance including cIAP-1, XIAP, Bcl-2, BAK and Survivin proteins. Last, colonogenic and MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)- 2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assays have also been performed. The results showed, regardless of the concentration used, GQDs, MSN and PLA were not cytotoxic to MDA-MB-231 cells and showed no impairment in the colony formation capacity. In addition, it has been observed that P-gp membrane expression was not significantly altered by any of the three nanomaterials. The results suggest that GQDs nanoparticles would be suitable for the delivery of other multidrug resistance protein 1 (MRP1) substrate drugs that bind to the transporter at the same binding pocket, while MSN can strongly inhibit doxorubicin efflux by MRP1. On the other hand, PLA showed moderate inhibition of doxorubicin efflux by MRP1 suggesting that this nanomaterial can also be useful to treat MDR (Multidrug resistance) due to MRP1 overexpression.

Graphene quantum dots nanoparticles changed the rheological properties of hydrophilic gels (carbopol)

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have special properties at nanosize zone, as highly tunable photoluminescence, electrochemiluminescence and multiphoton excitation, that make them promising nanoagents for drug delivery systems. In this direction the use of gels to formulate nanodrugs, for both in vitro and in vivo assay is required. However, the presence of GQDs nanoparticles may affect the rheological parameters. These changes may influence the biological behavior of this formulation as change the pharmacological application. In this study we evaluated the effect of adding GQDs to carbopol gels formulation, in terms of rheological properties. In this direction, carbopol gels alone and loaded with GQDs were studied. The results of pure carbopol formulation showed a non-Newtonian, pseudo-plastic fluid without thixotropic behavior. Otherwise, the presence of GQDs in the carbopol formulation (carbopol loaded with GQDs) caused a reduction on the viscosity and modified the interactions between the polymer chains leading to the transformation of the initial gel into a viscous fluid. This alteration can change drastically the use of these formulations, especially for drug delivery, since slightly changes in viscosity can influence the occlusion, retention and permeability of these nanoparticles into biological barriers.

Synthesizes, characterization, measurements and modeling thermal conductivity and viscosity of graphene quantum dots nanofluids

The present study is aimed to measure the thermophysical properties of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) nanoparticles that dispersed in water, ethylene glycol and water-ethylene glycol mixture (60:40) as base fluids. The presence of GQDs enhance the viscosity and thermal conductivity of nanofluids considerably. The maximum thermal conductivity enhancement reaches up 53%, 21% and 18% for the nanofluid containing 0.5% GQDs at 50 °C in water, ethylene glycol and water- ethylene glycol mixture (60:40) as base fluids, respectively. In addition, the viscosity of each solution was measured, and the results show that it increases with increasing volume fractions of GQDs nanoparticles and decreased with increasing of temperature. Besides, an artificial neural network model presents to predict the thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids. The overall predicted thermal conductivities and viscosities of nanofluids are in excellent agreement with experimental data with the AAD of 1.02% and R2 = 0.99929 for thermal conductivity and AAD = 1.09%, R2 = 0.99915 for viscosity.

Novel graphene quantum dots (GQDs)-incorporated thin film composite (TFC) membranes for forward osmosis (FO) desalination

This paper reports a novel class of thin film composite (TFC) membranes for forward osmosis (FO) desalination. The TFC membranes were fabricated via interfacial polymerization (IP) of aqueous mixture of polyethyleneimine (PEI) and graphene quantum dots (GQDs) with organic solution of trimesoyl chloride (TMC) on modified polyacrylonitrile (PAN) ultrafiltration substrates. The chemical structures and morphologies of the synthesized GQDs and the GQDs-incorporated membranes were studied by various characterization techniques. The synthesized GQDs exhibited a narrow size distribution of 1.0–4.0 nm with an average size of 2.19 nm, and the thickness were one to three graphene layers. The results showed that GQDs nanoparticles were covalently bonded to the polyamide chains. The optimized TFC membrane with 0.050 wt% GQDs loading exhibited quite hydrophilic and neutrally charged membrane surface, along with an enhanced water flux of 12.9 L m−2 h−1 and a comparable reverse salt flux of 1.41 g m−2 h−1 when DI water and 0.5 M MgCl2 were used as the feed solution and the draw solution, respectively. Also, the optimized GQDs-incorporated TFC membrane presented an especially good anti-fouling performance. Thus, incorporating the novel graphene nanomaterial into polymer membranes may present its great potential application in desalination, purification and wastewater treatment.

Synthesis, Optical, and Magnetic Properties of Graphene Quantum Dots and Iron Oxide Nanocomposites

The combination of nanomaterial graphene quantum dots (GQDs) with magnetic nanoparticles offers a unique set of optical and magnetic properties for future energy and medical applications. We report on the synthesis and engineering of GQDs and iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanocomposites (NCs) by using a pulsed laser discharge technique. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images showed a high yield of pure GQDs with 2–10 nm diameter. The hexagonal structures and lattice fringes associated with the C–C bond in GQDs were clearly identifiable. The structural and optical changes in GQDs and GQDs-Fe3O4 NC samples induced by UV light were investigated by the absorption and emission spectroscopy over the deep UV–visible spectral range. The photoluminescence spectra have shown subband π→π∗ transitions in GQDs-Fe3O4 NC. Magnetic properties of the GQDs-Fe3O4 NC samples have shown room temperature ferromagnetism induced by pure Fe3O4 nanoparticles and from the substantial spin polarized edges of GQD nanoparticles. It is concluded that the observed optical and magnetic properties could be further tailored in the studied nanocomposites for prospective medical applications.

Metal-Organic Framework/Graphene Quantum Dot Nanoparticles Used for Synergistic Chemo- and Photothermal Therapy.

In this study, a simple one-pot method was used to prepare a multifunctional platform for synergistic chemo- and photothermal therapy,, which is composed of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) as drug nanocarriers and the embedded graphene quantum dots (GQDs) as local photothermal seeds. The structure, drug release behavior, photothermal effect, and synergistic therapeutic efficiency of the ZIF-8/GQD nanoparticles were systematically investigated. Using doxorubicin (DOX) as a model anticancer drug, the results showed that monodisperse ZIF-8/GQD nanoparticles with a particle size of 50–100 nm could encapsulate DOX during the synthesis procedure and trigger DOX release under acidic conditions. The DOX-loaded ZIF-8/GQD nanoparticles could efficiently convert near-infrared (NIR) irradiation into heat and thereby increase the temperature. More importantly, with breast cancer 4T1 cells as a model cellular system, the results indicated that the combined chemo- and photothermal therapy with DOX-ZIF-8/GQD nanoparticles exhibited a significant synergistic effect, resulting in a higher efficacy to kill cancer cells compared with chemotherapy and photothermal therapy alone. Hence, ZIF-8/GQD nanoparticles would be promising as versatile nanocarriers for synergistic cancer therapy.