Effect of different water-soluble forms of fullerene C60 on the metabolic activity and ultrastructure of cells in culture

In view of contradictory data on the toxicity of fullerenes for living organisms we studied the effect of water-soluble complexes of C 60 with N-polyvinylpyrrolidone (C 60 /PVP) and γ-cyclodextrin (C 60 /γ-CD) on MA-104 cells in culture. Both complexes proved to be nontoxic for cultured cells in the dark in a wide range of concentrations. Both complexes provoke changes of cell ultrastructure that reflect enhancement of metabolic activity. At the same time only the exposition with C 60 /PVP leads to substantial growth of the number and size of mitochondria. However, the effect of two studied water-soluble forms of C 60 under intense UV irradiation of cells proved to be opposite: C 60 /PVP had a cytoprotective action while C 60 /γ-CD caused a significant growth of phototoxicity. Possible reasons of the differences in the action of different forms of C 60 on living organisms are discussed.