Oxygen content-related DNA damage of graphene oxide on human retinal pigment epithelium cells

作者：Liling Ou, Xiujuan Lv, Zixia Wu, Weibo Xia, Yida Huang, Luya Chen, Wenjie Sun, Qi Yao, Mei Yang, Lei Qi · 发表于：Journal of Materials Science Materials in Medicine · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.1007/s10856-021-06491-0 · 被引用次数：30 · 研究领域：Graphene and Nanomaterials Applications、Nanoparticles: synthesis and applications、Carbon and Quantum Dots Applications

Arguments regarding the biocompatibility of graphene-based materials (GBMs) have never ceased. Particularly, the genotoxicity (e.g., DNA damage) of GBMs has been considered the greatest risk to healthy cells. Detailed genotoxicity studies of GBMs are necessary and essential. Herein, we present our recent studies on the genotoxicity of most widely used GBMs such as graphene oxide (GO) and the chemically reduced graphene oxide (RGO) toward human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells. The genotoxicity of GO and RGOs against ARPE-19 (a typical RPE cell line) cells was investigated using the alkaline comet assay, the expression level of phosphorylated p53 determined via Western blots, and the release level of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Our results suggested that both GO and RGOs induced ROS-dependent DNA damage. However, the DNA damage was enhanced following the reduction of the saturated C-O bonds in GO, suggesting that surface oxygen-containing groups played essential roles in the reduced genotoxicity of graphene and had the potential possibility to reduce the toxicity of GBMs via chemical modification.