Interaction of single‐walled carbon nanotubes and saxitoxin: Ab initio simulations and biological responses in hippocampal cell line HT‐22

Abstract

Saxitoxins (STXs) are potent neurotoxins that also induce cytotoxicity through the generation of reactive oxygen species. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are nanomaterials that can promote a Trojan horse effect, facilitating the entry of toxic molecules to cells when adsorbed to nanomaterials. The interaction of pristine single-walled (SW)CNTs and carboxylated (SWCNT-COOH) nanotubes with STX was evaluated by ab initio simulation and bioassays using the cell line HT-22. Cells (5 × 10 cells/mL) were exposed to SWCNT and SWCNT-COOH (5 μg mL ), STX (200 μg L ), SWCNT+STX, and SWCNT-COOH+STX for 30 min or 24 h. Results of ab initio simulation showed that the interaction between SWCNT and SWCNT-COOH with STX occurs in a physisorption. The interaction of SWCNT+STX induced a decrease in cell viability. Cell proliferation was not affected in any treatment after 30 min or 24 h of exposure (p > 0.05). Treatment with SWCNT-COOH induced high reactive oxygen species levels, an effect attenuated in SWCNT-COOH+STX treatment. In terms of cellular oxygen consumption, both CNTs when coexposed with STX antagonize the toxin effect. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the results obtained in vitro corroborate the semiempirical evidence found using density functional theory ab initio simulation. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:1728-1737. © 2016 SETAC.

Engineered nanomaterials: From their properties and applications, to their toxicity towards marine bivalves in a changing environment

“…In fact, several studies showed that co-exposure with fullerene C 60 can affect the uptake rate and toxicity of other environmental contaminants (Azvedo Costa et al, 2012;Ferreira et al, 2014). Recently, Ramos et al (2017) of DNA strand breaks were also observed concluding that B(α)P and/or C 60 induce tissue and DNA damage in exposed marine mussels, confirming their function as genotoxicants.…”

Graphene oxide and flavonoids as potential inhibitors of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 variants and interaction between ligands: a parallel study of molecular docking and DFT

“…Discovery Studio 2021 software was used to visualize the interaction results and the 2D map of interaction was performed through LigPlot software. The proposed methodology was similarly approached in other studies, such as the interaction in the complex formed by graphene and glutamate [39], and for single-walled carbon nanotubes and human mitochondrial voltage-dependent anion channel [40].…”