Lipopolysaccharide influences on the toxicity of oxidised multiwalled carbon nanotubes to murine splenocytes in vitro

This experimental study evaluated the influence of the presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a common bacterial endotoxin, on the nitric acid oxidised multiwalled carbon nanotubes (Ox-MWCNT) during the assessment of in vitro toxicity to splenocytes, an immune system cell isolated from BALB/c mice. The concentration of LPS was determined by Limulus Amebocyte assay and this endotoxin was removed from Ox-MWCNT by using three cycles of autoclave. Splenocytes were cultured in RPMI 1640 media with 1.0, 5.0 or 10 ng/mL of Ox-MWCNT. The results showed that the presence of LPS on Ox-MWCNT did not affect the growth of splenocytes in vitro. However, the absence of LPS decreased the splenocytes viability significantly.