Cytotoxicity of organic surface coating agents used for nanoparticles synthesis and stability

Impact on health by nanomaterials has become a public concern with the great advances of nanomaterials for various applications. Surface coating agents are an integral part of nanoparticles, but not enough attention has been paid during toxicity tests of nanoparticles. As a result, there are inconsistent toxicity results for certain nanomaterials. In this study, we explored the cytotoxicity of eleven commonly used surface coating agents in two cell lines, human epidermal keratinocyte (HaCaT) and lung fibroblast (CRL-1490) cells, at surface coating agent concentrations of 3, 10, 30, and 100 μM. Two exposure time points, 2 h and 24 h, were employed for the study. Six of the eleven surface coating agents are cytotoxic, especially those surfactants with long aliphatic chains, both cationic (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, oleylamine, tetraoctylammonium bromide, and hexadecylamine) and anionic (sodium dodecylsulfate). In addition, exposure time and the use of different cell lines also affect the cytotoxicity results. Therefore, factors such as cell lines used and exposure times must be considered when conducting toxicity tests or comparing cytotoxicity results.