Halloysite biocompatibility was tested with peritoneal macrophages, splenocytes and mouse neutrophils cells. Clay nanotubes from two sources (ANT-A and ANT-B) have low cytotoxicity and similar physico-chemical properties with lumen diameter of 10-30 nm, outer diameter 50-80 nm and length of 1-2 micrometers. ANT-A has higher porosity and surface area (64% and 178 m2/g) as compared to ANT-B (48% and 62 m2/g). The higher porosity corresponds to slightly higher toxicity of ANT-A: its cytotoxicity begins to at 500 ? 106 nanotubes/mL (0.8 mg/mL), as opposed to much higher safe concentration for ANT-B. The halloysite tube dimensions are within so called �safe-window� with the largest measure of 1-2 �m and with outer surface composed from SiO2, which is considered as safe biocompatible compound.  The results suggest that halloysite is a promising nanocontainer for encasing and slow release of biologically active compounds and drugs.

Study of halloysite clay nanotube toxicity as related to their structure

245th National Meeting (2013)

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