Culture Media Critically Influence Graphene Oxide Effects on Plasma Membranes

In their article, “Graphene Oxide Nanosheets Stimulate Ruffling and Shedding of Mammalian Cell Plasma Membranes,” Sun et al.1 described how the early-stage interaction between graphene oxide (GO) flakes and rat basophilic leukemia (RBL) cells perturbed their plasma membrane without causing cytotoxicity. The formation of peripheral membrane structures detaching from the RBL cells (within 4 hr) was reported for two other mammalian cell types, MDS-MB-231 (human breast cancer) and NIH/3T3 (mouse fibroblast) cells.