Hydroxylation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can enhance their dispersibility in water, and allows the capability to conjugate with other molecules for the expected applications. However, the cytotoxicity of hydroxylated CNTs has not been thoroughly investigated. Here, we compared the cytotoxicity of hydroxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-OH) on a human cell line with that of pristine multi-walled carbon nanotubes (p-MWCNTs). We showed that while both MWCNTs-OH and p-MWCNTs induced apoptosis in a time- and dose-dependent manner, MWCNTs-OH triggered a significantly milder cytotoxic resp...
