SiC nanomaterials are promising for cell tracking due to their stable and strong luminescence. SiC nanowires (SiCNWs) and nanoparticles (SiCNPs) are biocompatible for multiple cell lineages. However, upon labeling human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) with SiCNWs, we noted negative effects on cell adhesion, proliferation, migration, and pluripotency. We also studied the cytotoxicity of SiCNPs with an average size of 79 and 603 nm. The results show that the proliferation rate of SiCNW-labeled hMSCs is 123% lower than unlabeled hMSCs on day 6 (Figure 1A). Approximately 67%, 56%, 64%, and 31% of unlabeled, SiCNP80-, SiCNP600-, and SiCNW-labeled hMSCs adhered to the flask 24 hours after seeding (Figure 1B). Migration assay shows the cell density in the non-scratched area of SiCNWs-labeled hMSCs decreased from about 5,000 cells/cm2 to approximately 3,055 cells/cm2, while the other groups all increased to around 6,400 cells/cm2. In scratched area, cell density of unlabeled and SiCNPs-labeled hMSCs were around 5,400 cells/cm2 and it was only about 1,800 cells/cm2 for SiCNWs-labeled (Figure 1C). While SiCNP600- and SiCNP80-labeled cells differentiated into osteogenic and adipogenic lineages like unlabeled hMSCs, SiCNWs-labeled hMSCs failed to differentiate into osteocytes or adipocytes after treatment with differentiation induction media (Figure 1D). In confirmation of the prior literature, we noted that the SiCNWs do not affect the viability of cancer cells. Figure 1E shows the SiCNWs-labeled hMSCs achieved 100 % confluence similar to unlabeled hMSCs.

Morphology-dependent cytotoxicity of SiC nanomaterials to human mesenchymal stem cells

256th National Meeting (2018)

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