The ability of commercial monolayer graphene oxide (GO) and graphene oxide nanocolloids (GOC) to interact with different unicellular systems and biomolecules was studied by analyzing the response of human alveolar carcinoma epithelial cells, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the bacteria Vibrio fischeri to the presence of different nanoparticle concentrations, and by studying the binding affinity of different microbial enzymes, like the α-l-rhamnosidase enzyme RhaB1 from the bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum and the AbG β-d-glucosidase from Agrobacterium sp. (strain ATCC 21400). An analysis of cytotoxicity on human epithelial cell line A549, S. cerevisiae (colony forming units, ROS induction, genotoxicity) and V. fischeri (luminescence inhibition) cells determined the potential of both nanoparticle types to damage the selected unicellular systems. Also, the protein binding affinity of the graphene derivatives at different oxidation levels was analyzed. The reported results highlight the variability that can exist in terms of toxicological potential and binding affinity depending on the target organism or protein and the selected nanomaterial.

The physicochemical properties and the toxicological potential of commercially available MoS2 nanoparticles with different lateral size and degradation stage were studied in the present research work. To achieve this, the structure and stoichiometry of fresh and old aqueous suspensions of micro-MoS2 and nano-MoS2 was analyzed by Raman, while x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy allowed to identify more quantitatively the nature of the formed oxidized species. A, the toxicological impact of the nanomaterials under analysis was studied using adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells (A549 cells) and the unicellular fungus S. cerevisiae as biological models. Cell viability assays and reactive oxygen species (ROS) determinations demonstrated different toxicity levels depending on the cellular model used and in function of the degradation state of the selected commercial nanoproducts. Both MoS2 nanoparticle types induced sublethal damage on the A549 cells though the increase of intracellular ROS levels, while comparable concentrations reduced the viability of yeast cells. In addition, the old MoS2 nanoparticles suspensions exhibited a higher toxicity for both human and yeast cells than the fresh ones. Our findings demonstrate that the fate assessment of nanomaterials is a critical aspect to increase the understanding on their characteristics and on their potential impact on biological systems along their life cycle.

Boron nitride (BN) nanomaterials have been increasingly explored for potential applications in chemistry and biology fields (e.g., biomedical, pharmaceutical, and energy industries) due to their unique physico-chemical properties. However, their safe utilization requires a profound knowledge on their potential toxicological and environmental impact. To date, BN nanoparticles have been considered to have a high biocompatibility degree, but in some cases, contradictory results on their potential toxicity have been reported. Therefore, in the present study, we assessed two commercial 2D BN samples, namely BN-nanopowder (BN-PW) and BN-nanoplatelet (BN-PL), with the objective to identify whether distinct physico-chemical features may have an influence on the biological responses of exposed cellular models. Morphological, structural, and composition analyses showed that the most remarkable difference between both commercial samples was the diameter of their disk-like shape, which was of 200–300 nm for BN-PL and 100–150 nm for BN-PW. Their potential toxicity was investigated using adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells (A549 cells) and the unicellular fungus Saccharomycescerevisiae, as human and environmental eukaryotic models respectively, employing in vitro assays. In both cases, cellular viability assays and reactive oxygen species (ROS) determinations where performed. The impact of the selected nanomaterials in the viability of both unicellular models was very low, with only a slight reduction of S. cerevisiae colony forming units being observed after a long exposure period (24 h) to high concentrations (800 mg/L) of both nanomaterials. Similarly, BN-PW and BN-PL showed a low capacity to induce the formation of reactive oxygen species in the studied conditions. Even at the highest concentration and exposure times, no major cytotoxicity indicators were observed in human cells and yeast. The results obtained in the present study provide novel insights into the safety of 2D BN nanomaterials, indicating no significant differences in the toxicological potential of similar commercial products with a distinct lateral size, which showed to be safe products in the concentrations and exposure conditions tested.

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Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted the attention of academy and industry due to their potential applications, being currently produced and commercialized at a mass scale, but their possible impact on different biological systems remains unclear. In the present work, an assessment to understand the toxicity of commercial pristine multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on the unicellular fungal model Saccharomyces cerevisiae is presented. Firstly, the nanomaterial was physico-chemically characterized, to obtain insights concerning its morphological features and elemental composition. Afterwards, a toxicology assessment was carried out, where it could be observed that cell proliferation was negatively affected only in the presence of 800 mg L−1 for 24 h, while oxidative stress was induced at a lower concentration (160 mg L−1) after a short exposure period (2 h). Finally, to identify possible toxicity pathways induced by the selected MWCNTs, the transcriptome of S. cerevisiae exposed to 160 and 800 mg L−1, for two hours, was studied. In contrast to a previous study, reporting massive transcriptional changes when yeast cells were exposed to graphene nanoplatelets in the same exposure conditions, only a small number of genes (130) showed significant transcriptional changes in the presence of MWCNTs, in the higher concentration tested (800 mg L−1), and most of them were found to be downregulated, indicating a limited biological response of the yeast cells exposed to the selected pristine commercial CNTs.