Curcumin coating: a novel solution to mitigate inherent carbon nanotube toxicity

Abstract

Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) are inert structures with high aspect ratios that are widely used as vehicles for targeted drug delivery in cancer and many other diseases. They are largely non-toxic in nature however, when cells are exposed to these nanotubes for prolonged durations or at high concentrations, they show certain adverse effects. These include cytotoxicity, inflammation, generation of oxidative stress, and genotoxicity among others. To combat such adverse effects, various moieties can be attached to the surface of these nanotubes. Curcumin is a known anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and cytoprotective compound derived from a medicinal plant called Curcuma longa. In this study, we have synthesized and characterized Curcumin coated-lysine functionalized MWCNTs and further evaluated the cytoprotective, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antiapoptotic effect of Curcumin coating on the surface of MWCNTs. The results show a significant decrease in the level of inflammatory molecules like IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β, TNFα and NFκB in cells exposed to Curcumin-coated MWCNTs as compared to the uncoated ones at both transcript and protein levels. Further, compared to the uncoated samples, there is a reduction in ROS production and upregulation of antioxidant enzyme-Catalase in the cells treated with Curcumin-coated MWCNTs. Curcumin coating also helped in recovery of mitochondrial membrane potential in the cells exposed to MWCNTs. Lastly, cells exposed to Curcumin-coated MWCNTs showed reduced cell death as compared to the ones exposed to uncoated MWCNTs. Our findings suggest that coating of Curcumin on the surface of MWCNTs reduces its ability to cause inflammation, oxidative stress, and cell death. Graphical Abstract (a) Synthesis of Curcumin-coated-Lysine-functionalized MWCNTs. (b) Flow of research depicting experimental groups and studies performed along with the underlying techniques used.

Platinum nanoparticles-embedded single-walled carbon nanotubes as a new carrier for curcumin delivery and investigating its anticancer effect on cell line 4T1

“…The findings of the cytotoxicity of CNT studies on the HFF-2 cell line confirmed the results of the hemolysis experiments, which show that the toxicity of the prepared nanosystem is dose-dependent and that its surface toxicity can be reduced through surface modification with drug loading. A related study showed that CUR coating significantly reduced the inflammatory and cell death-inducing potential in MWCNT [ 39 ]. Nanoparticles exhibit minimal toxicity towards 4T1 cancer cells on their own, and X-ray radiation at the applied dose also did not show high toxicity.…”