Table 2 Toxicity of GFNs in cell models

Pristine graphene

Thickness of 2–3 nm, size of 500–1000 nm

Murine RAW 264.7 macrophages

5, 10, 20, 40, 80 and 100 mg/mL, 48 h

Depleted of the mitochondrial membrane potential, increased ROS, triggered apoptosis

[83]

Pristine graphene

Thickness of 3–5 nm, size of 100–110 nm

Rat pheochromocytoma cells PC12 cells

10–100 μg/mL 1–48 h

Increased LDH release, ROS levels and caspase3 activation, induced apoptosis

[82]

Graphene oxide(GO)

Four different diameters (342–765 nm)

Human Erythrocytes

Human skin

fibroblasts CRL-2522

3.125-200 μg/mL 24 h

Hemolytic activity, ROS generation, LDH release, decreased cell viability

[106]

GO

Thickness of 0.9 nm

lateral size: s-GO, 160 ± 90 nm;

m-GO, 430 ± 300 nm;

l-GO, 780 ± 410 nm

Human lung epithelial A549 cells

10, 25, 50, 100 and 200 μg/mL 24 h

Dose-dependent oxidative stress, cell viability decreased at high concentration

[119]

GO

Thickness of 1 nm, lateral dimension of 200–500 nm

Human lung fibroblast cells HLF cells

10–500 μg/mL 2–24 h

Oxidative stress induced, concentration-dependent cytotoxicity and genotoxicity

[148]

GO

Size distribution: 592 ± 10.9 nm in PBS, 1272 ± 56.2 nm in FBS

HeLa cells

0–80 μg/mL 24 h

Released LDH, increased MDA and ROS generation, decreased SOD, reduction of cell viability,

[120]

GO

smaller-sized GO: 50–350 nm

intermediate-sized GO: 350–750 nm

larger-sized GO: 750–1,300 nm

Macrophage cell J774A.1

THP-1 cells

HEK293 cells

MEL cells

HUT102 cells

20 μg/mL 1-24 h

Size-dependent M1 induction of macrophages,

pro-inflammatory responses

[94]

GO

thickness: < 2 nm,

lateral size: 450 nm

Mouse CT26 colon carcinoma cell

50–100 μg/mL 18 h

Triggered autophagy, enhances cell death

[206]

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO)

Thickness of 11 ± 4 nm

lateral size of 3.8 ± 0.4 μm

Human mesenchymal stem

cells (hMSCs)

0.01–100 μg/mL 1–24 h

Induced DNA fragmentations and chromosomal aberrations

[118]

RGO

Thickness of 7 nm

lateral size of 40 nm

human liver carcinoma

cells (HepG2 cells)

1–200 mg/L 4–72 h

Dose-dependent DNA damage, oxidative stress, cytotoxicity

[31]

RGO

Lateral size of 100–1500 nm

U87 and U118 glioma

cell lines

0–100 μg/mL 24 h

Reduction of cell proliferation and cell viability, induced apoptosis

[238]

Bacterially reduced graphene oxide (B-rGO)

Thickness of 4.23 nm

average size of 3833 nm

MCF-7 cells

20–100 μg/mL 24–72 h

Increased ROS generation, released LDH, dose-dependent toxicity

[181]

Reduced graphene oxide

Nanoribbons(rGONR)

Thickness of 1 nm,

length of 10 μm,

width of 50–200 nm,

hMSCs

0.01, 0.1, 1.0, 10, 100 μg/mL 96 h

Caused DNA fragmentations and chromosomal aberrations

[239]

Reduced graphene oxide sheets (rGOSs)

Thicknesses of ~1.2 nm,

lateral sizes of ~2 μm

hMSCs

0.01, 0.1, 1.0, 10, 100 μg/mL 96 h

Caused slight cell membrane damage and cytotoxicity

[239]

Graphene-dextran

(GO-DEX)

Thickness of 2.8 nm

size of 50–100 nm

HeLa cells

10, 50,200 mg/L 24, 48, 72 h

GO-DEX remarkably reduced cell toxicity

[91]

GNP-COOH

GNP-NH2

Thickness of GNP-COOH: 735.9 nm

thickness of GNP-NH2: 945.5 nm

Human bronchial epithelial

cells (BEAS-2B cells)

10, 50 mg/L 24 h

Caused single stranded DNA damage, genotoxicity and hypomethylation

[240]

PEG-DSPE (O-GNR-PEG-DSPE)

Width of 125–220 nm, lengths between of 500–2500 nm

HeLa cells

NIH-3 T3 cells

SKBR3 cells

MCF7 cells

10–400 μg/mL 24–48 h

Dose-dependent and time-dependent decrease in cell viability

[138]

PEI-GO,

PEG-GO,

LA-PEG-GO

Thickness of 1–2 nm lateral width of 100–500 nm

Human lung fibroblast cells

1, 10, 50, 100 μg/ml 24 h

Caused concentration-dependent cytotoxicity and genotoxicity

[15]

PEG-GQD

Sizes of 3–5 nm

HeLa cells and A549 cells

10–160 μg/mL 24 h

No noticeable cytotoxicity

[176]

FBS-GO

Thickness of 4.0–18.0 nm

A549 cells

0–200 μg/mL 24 h

Cytotoxicity of GO was greatly mitigated at 10 % FBS

[166]