Biocompatibility evaluation of hexagonal boron nitrides on healthy mouse hippocampal cell line and their positive effect on stressed cells

Abstract

In this study, hexagonal boron nitrides (hBNs) and their degradation product, boric acid (BA), are comparatively evaluated to investigate their biocompatibility and oxidative stress relieving effects on embryonic mouse hippocampal cell line (mHippoE-14). First, cell viability is assessed for a wide concentration range of 4.40-440 μg/mL of boron (B) containing hBNs and BA for 24 and 72 h exposures. Then, cell cycle, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and cell death mechanisms are investigated at a concentration range of 4.4-44 μg/mL with increased incubation times. Finally, the influence of hBNs and BA on apoptotic body formation is monitored to analyze their nuclei integrity with confocal microscopy. Both hBNs and BA are found to be not cytotoxic at lower than 22 µg/mL B containing concentrations, and hBNs are much less cytotoxic compared to BA. At low concentration of hBNs, no detectable change in cell cycle, ROS production and DNA damage are observed. The study was further extended by exposing the cells to doxorubicin (DOX) to cause stress on cells before treating with hBNs and BA to investigate their positive effect on cellular metabolism. It is found that both hBNs and BA helps to increase the cell viability after the exposure to DOX. The results are envisioning the exploitation of hBNs as biocompatible agents for their possible biomedical applications including mitigating oxidative stress caused by various drugs used for neurological diseases and brain cancers. Since hBNs slowly degrade in biological media, they can be used as a controlled B releasing agent as compared to ionic BA in addition to their nanocarrier feature.

Degradation-by-design: how chemical functionalization enhances the biodegradability and safety of 2D materials

“…These materials were demonstrated to display a relatively high biocompatibility, and were explored for biomedical applications. [240][241][242][243][244] However, the biodegradability of hBN and g-C3N4 nanosheets is little studied, likely because of their high chemical stability and strong resistance to oxidation.…”

A new approach for prevention the oxidations and mutations: zinc borate

“…In another study the 400 mg/L concentrations of some synthesized borenium compounds were non-cytotoxic on cultured human blood cells [41]. Similarly, in a study reveals that both synthesized hexagonal boron nitrides and boric acid are not cytotoxic at lower than 22 µg/mL boron containing concentrations on brain neuronal mHippo E-14 cells [42]. Administration of < 0.5 mmol/L boron significantly promoted the viability of Sertoli cells (P < 0.01); however, the exposure to high dose (> 10 mmol/L) of boron exhibited significant adverse effects [43].…”