In vitro comparison of the photothermal anticancer activity of graphene nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes

The present study compared the photothermal anticancer activity of near-infrared (NIR)-excited graphene nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes (CNT). Despite lower NIR-absorbing capacity, suspension of polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated graphene sheets exposed to NIR radiation (808 nm, 2 W/cm(2)) generated more heat than DNA or sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate-solubilized single-wall CNT under the same conditions. Accordingly, graphene nanoparticles performed significantly better than CNT in inducing photothermal death of U251 human glioma cells in vitro. The superior photothermal sensitivity of graphene sheets could be largely explained by their better dispersivity, which has been supported by a simple calculation taking into account thermodynamic, optical and geometrical properties of the two type of carbon nanoparticles. The mechanisms of graphene-mediated photothermal killing of cancer cells apparently involved oxidative stress and mitochondrial membrane depolarization resulting in mixed apoptotic and necrotic cell death characterized by caspase activation/DNA fragmentation and cell membrane damage, respectively.