Effect of Composite Alumina and Carbon Nanotubes on Cell Viability In Vitro

Abstract

Alumina ceramic is a biocompatible material with high potential in bone implant applications. Due to this material lacks enough mechanical properties for this purpose, it is nec-essary to develop new composites of alumina matrix for bone tissue regeneration. In this paper, the effect of carbon nano-tubes/alumina on cell viability in vitro was evaluated. Method-ology: Vero cells were treated with 125-5000 μg/ml of alumina composite. After 72h, Hoechst staining and MTT assay (3 (4, 5 dimethyl − 2 − thiazoyl) − 2, 5 − diphenyltetrazolic)) were performed for measuring cell viability. Results and Conclusions: The alu-mina ceramic composite with carbon nanotubes did not signif-icatively affect cell viability with low percentages of carbon nanotubes (0,5 and 1,0%) but a cytotoxic effect was observed with high doses of carbon nanotubes (1,5%). Biocompatibility properties of alumina ceramic composite with carbon nano-tubes must be further explored in different in vitro cell mod-els.