Toxicity and Antioxidant Activity of Fullerenol C60,70 with Low Number of Oxygen Substituents

Abstract

Fullerene is a nanosized carbon structure with potential drug delivery applications. We studied the bioeffects of a water-soluble fullerene derivative, fullerenol, with 10-12 oxygen groups (F10-12); its structure was characterized by IR and XPS spectroscopy. A bioluminescent enzyme system was used to study toxic and antioxidant effects of F10-12 at the enzymatic level. Antioxidant characteristics of F10-12 were revealed in model solutions of organic and inorganic oxidizers. Low-concentration activation of bioluminescence was validated statistically in oxidizer solutions. Toxic and antioxidant characteristics of F10-12 were compared to those of homologous fullerenols with a higher number of oxygen groups:F24-28 and F40-42. No simple dependency was found between the toxic/antioxidant characteristics and the number of oxygen groups on the fullerene’s carbon cage. Lower toxicity and higher antioxidant activity of F24-28 were identified and presumptively attributed to its higher solubility. An active role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the bioeffects of F10-12 was demonstrated. Correlations between toxic/antioxidant characteristics of F10-12 and ROS content were evaluated. Toxic and antioxidant effects were related to the decrease in ROS content in the enzyme solutions. Our results reveal a complexity of ROS effects in the enzymatic assay system.

Endohedral Gd-Containing Fullerenol: Toxicity, Antioxidant Activity, and Regulation of Reactive Oxygen Species in Cellular and Enzymatic Systems

“…Humic substances, products of natural decomposition of organic matter in soils, coals, and bottom sediments, were the first bioactive compounds that we studied using this approach [49][50][51]. Later, the bioeffects of gold nanoparticles were analyzed in [52], the toxicity and antioxidant activity of a series of different fullerenol nanoparticles were evaluated and compared in [53][54][55][56][57][58][59], prooxidant properties of mignetide nanoparticles were demonstrated [60]. Thus, we have demonstrated that bacteria-based and enzyme-based bioluminescence assays exhibit strong potential as appropriate tools for studying and comparing the bioeffects of nanocompounds of different structures.…”

“…Antioxidant properties of bioactive compounds are supposed to be concerned with reactive oxygen species (ROS) in biological systems. The correlations between the ROS content and the toxic/antioxidant effects of bioactive compounds (fullerenols, gold nanoparticles, and radionuclides) in suspensions of luminous marine bacteria were studied in [52,53,59,[66][67][68][69]. The role of ROS in the toxic and antioxidant effects of endohedral Gd-containing fullerenols is of high interest; it has not been studied experimentally yet.…”

Adaptation of a Bacterial Bioluminescent Assay to Monitor Bioeffects of Gold Nanoparticles

“…Recently, we began to use bioluminescence assays to evaluate the bioeffects of nanostructures of natural and artificial origin. We studied NPs with varied core material and surface modification [ 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 ]. Fullerene derivatives with diverse carbon cage sizes and oxygen substituent amounts, as well as core iron oxides, were under investigation.…”

“…Moreover, we highlighted the involvement of the conjugated π-system of the carbon cage in fullerenol bioeffects [ 55 ]. We further demonstrated an active role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the bioeffects of fullerenol NPs [ 56 ]; ROS content was monitored using the chemiluminescence luminol method [ 59 , 60 ]. This technique determines integral ROS content by assuming a dynamic equilibrium of the different intra- and extracellular ROS.…”

Effects of Metallic and Carbon-Based Nanomaterials on Human Pancreatic Cancer Cell Lines AsPC-1 and BxPC-3

“…Moreover, it is characterized by the ability to accumulate in the tumour as it easily penetrates the permeable blood vessels that surround the neoplastic tissue [32]. To achieve increased water solubility and expand the possible biomedical applications, polar hydroxyl groups have been added to the C 60 skeleton [33]. Due to their specific structure that is characterized by the unique π-system, hydroxylated fullerenes are thought to have a dual nature.…”