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Toxicity of different forms of graphene in a chicken embryo model

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Abstract

In the present work, the toxicity of three forms of graphene: pristine graphene (pG), graphene oxide (GO), and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was investigated using a chicken embryo model. Fertilized chicken eggs were divided into the control group and groups administered with pG, GO, and rGO, in concentrations of 50, 500, and 5000 μg/ml. The experimental solutions were injected in ovo into the eggs, and at day 18 of incubation, the embryo survival, body and organ weights, the ultrastructure of liver samples, and the concentration of 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) in the livers were measured. Survival of embryos decreased significantly after treatment with all types of graphene, but not in a dose-dependent manner. The body weights were only slightly affected by the highest doses of graphene, while the organ weights were not different among treatment groups. In all experimental groups, atypical hepatocyte ultrastructure and mitochondrial damage were observed. The concentration of the marker of DNA damage 8-OHdG in the liver significantly decreased after pG and rGO treatments. Further in vivo studies with different animal models are necessary to clarify the level of toxicity of different types of graphene and to estimate the concentrations appropriate to evaluate their biomedical applications and environmental hazard.

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Acknowledgments

This work is part of the first author’s habilitation thesis, and it was supported by the Polish National Research Council grant NCN OPUS 2011/03/B/NZ9/03387.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Morphological Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-787, Warsaw, Poland

    Maciej Szmidt & Kaja Urbańska

  2. Department of Animal Nutrition and Biotechnology, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-787, Warsaw, Poland

    Ewa Sawosz, Sławomir Jaworski, Marta Kutwin, Anna Hotowy, Mateusz Wierzbicki & Marta Grodzik

  3. Institute of Electronic Materials Technology, 02-787, Warsaw, Poland

    Ludwika Lipińska

  4. Department of Veterinary Clinical and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 1870, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    André Chwalibog

Authors
  1. Maciej Szmidt
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  2. Ewa Sawosz
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  3. Kaja Urbańska
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  4. Sławomir Jaworski
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  5. Marta Kutwin
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  6. Anna Hotowy
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  7. Mateusz Wierzbicki
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  8. Marta Grodzik
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  9. Ludwika Lipińska
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  10. André Chwalibog
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Correspondence to André Chwalibog.

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Responsible editor: Markus Hecker

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Szmidt, M., Sawosz, E., Urbańska, K. et al. Toxicity of different forms of graphene in a chicken embryo model. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 19940–19948 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7178-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7178-z

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