Abstract
This study aimed to determine the in vitro cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of graphene flake (GF) and aqueous graphene paste (AGP) in order to evaluate their potential for application as biomaterials. Furthermore, their antitumor activity against adherent and suspended cells, namely, human breast adenocarcinoma cells (MDA-MB-231), and human monocytes from histiocytic lymphoma (U-937), was investigated. The results demonstrated that GF reduced the viability and proliferation of NIH3T3 immortalized murine fibroblasts for concentrations >0.8 µg/mL and incubation times of 48 and 72 h. AGP showed no toxic effects in any of the tested concentrations and incubation times. The same results were obtained for MDA-MB-231 cells. The viability of the U-937 cells was not affected by either GF or AGP. The Ames test showed that GF and AGP were not genotoxic against Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100, with and without metabolic activation. The present study demonstrated good in vitro cellular compatibility of GF and AGP and. Among these, AGP was the best material as it did not interfere, at any of the tested concentrations, with cell viability and proliferation for up to 72 h of incubation. In any case, neither material induced alterations to cell morphology and were not mutagenic.