Nanomedicine: experts state safety concerns regarding carbon nanotubes have been allayed by chemistry

Our plain-English summary of Nanomedicine: experts state safety concerns regarding carbon nanotubes have been allayed by chemistry, by P. Nagda (Nanomedicine, 2013).

The study

• Author: P. Nagda
• Journal: Nanomedicine
• Published: 2013;8(3):325-6
• Type of article: News
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This was a short news item in the journal Nanomedicine, not an original research study. It reported on a 2013 paper by Ali-Boucetta and colleagues in Angewandte Chemie about carbon nanotubes, which are tiny tubes made of carbon. As background, the item said earlier studies had reported that long, untreated nanotubes injected into the abdominal cavity of mice produced responses similar to those linked to certain asbestos fibers. According to the item, the new study found that the asbestos-like reactivity and disease-causing properties of long, untreated nanotubes were completely removed when chemical treatment changed the nanotube surface and shortened the tubes. The study looked at two chemical reactions. The item said the paper concluded that only treatments that kept the nanotubes stable in body fluids, without clumping together, and made them shorter would give risk-free material. One of the researchers was quoted as saying that both chemical treatment and shortening are needed. The item provided no quantitative results and described the methods only in broad terms. It did not say what animals or cells the new study tested.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: News item (journal news section) reporting on a published laboratory study by Ali-Boucetta and colleagues in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2013. This is not original research.
• Who was studied: Not stated. The news item does not say what animals, cells or test systems the reported study used.
• Exposure: Long, untreated ('pristine') carbon nanotubes, compared with nanotubes whose surface was chemically modified and whose length was reduced. As background from other studies, the item says long untreated nanotubes injected into the abdominal cavity of mice caused responses similar to those from certain asbestos fibers.
• Main results:
  • As reported by the news item: long, untreated nanotubes with asbestos-like reactivity and pathogenicity lost these properties completely when chemical treatment modified their surface and shortened them.
  • The study examined two chemical reactions. These raised the question of whether every kind of chemical modification makes nanotubes nontoxic.
  • Kostas Kostarelos, who is quoted in the item, said that both chemical treatment and shortening are needed to design risk-free carbon nanotubes.
• The authors' conclusion: As described by the news item, the paper concluded that only reactions leaving the nanotubes stable in biological fluids without aggregating, and shorter in length, will result in risk-free material.

Related studies

• High-temperature calcined fullerene nanowhiskers as well as long needle-like multi-wall carbon nanotubes have abilities to induce NLRP3-mediated IL-1β secretion — H. Cui, W. Wu, et al. (2014)
• Polymer coating on carbon nanotubes into Durobeads is a novel strategy for human environmental safety — F. Ito, H. Hisashi, et al. (2018)
• Asbestos, carbon nanotubes and the pleural mesothelium: a review of the hypothesis regarding the role of long fibre retention in the parietal pleura, inflammation and mesothelioma — K. Donaldson, F.A. Murphy, et al. (2010)
• Form Follows Function: Nanoparticle Shape and Its Implications for Nanomedicine — C. Kinnear, T.L. Moore, et al. (2017)
• Carbon nanotubes introduced into the abdominal cavity of mice show asbestos-like pathogenicity in a pilot study — C.A. Poland, R. Duffin, et al. (2008)
• Induction of mesothelioma in p53+/- mouse by intraperitoneal application of multi-wall carbon nanotube — A. Takagi, A. Hirose, et al. (2008)

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