Pro- and antioxidant properties of C60/PVP complex and fullerene coated surface.

L.B. Piotrovsky*, M.Yu. Eropkin^, E.M. Eropkina^, M.A. Dumpis*, E.B. Dizhe*, and O.I. KiselevT

*Institute of Experimental Medicine RAMS, St.-Petersburg, Russia
Institute of Influenza RAMS, St.-Petersburg, Russia

Various fullerene preparations show the wide spectrum of biological action, from which it is possible to extract pro- and antioxidant activities [1]. We have investigated the ability to reveal these properties by two such preparations, namely, water soluble C60/PVP complex and solid fullerene at the surface.

Antioxidant action of C60/PVP complex was described earlier [2]. But in non-biological systems C60/PVP complex also distinctly shows prooxidant activity. At the same time this complex does not reveal the prooxidant activity at its addition to the medium during the cell cultivation, and C60/PVP complex itself does not have any apparent influence at the growing cells (cell cultures MA-104 and HepG2).

Fullerene associates at the surface in darkness reveal evident antioxidant activity, while at the illumination of the visible light they become powerful prooxidants. Death of cell cultures in this case is caused by the presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS), formed in the medium due to photoexcited C60 molecules. The analysis of the nature of ROS showed that the most important role in this case belongs to the singlet oxygen. Different cell cultures show various sensibility to the ROS, which are formed in the medium at the illumination at the presence of fullerene C60. In general, malignant cells are more sensitive to the affective activity of ROS than the normal ones (types of cells).

The obtained data allow us to state that the varying of the ways of fullerene C60 introduction into the biological medium gives us the possibility to use different mechanisms of its activity on the biological objects - both pro- and antioxidant activities, as well as the influence on the biological membranes.