The acute cytotoxicity of bismuth ferrite nanoparticles on PC12 cells

Due to its unique properties, bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3, BFO) has gained a great deal of interest. The prevalence of BFO increases the likelihood of exposures either to environment or to humans. Unfortunately, the understanding of BFO biological effects is very limited. In this study, a battery of standard tests, such as morphology observation, MTT, and LDH assay, and flow cytometry analysis, was employed to elucidate in vitro cytotoxicity of BFO nanoparticles (NPs) in the size range of 30-90 nm using PC12 cells as a model. The results show that BFO-NPs could tightly attach to the cell membrane in the culture medium, which significantly affect the cell adhesion and inhibit their proliferation. Moreover, cytotoxicity of BFO-NPs is greatly mitigated when the exposure time was extended to 48 h. These findings suggest that BFO-NP possess the nature of acute cytotoxicity since the cells can recover to a certain extent over with incubation time. For the first time, our study reveals some essential properties of BFO-NP toxicity, which may advance BFO applications and its toxicological study.