Quantification of cell viability with a lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay in rat retinal explants.
We determined the effects of two distinct carbon nanotube compounds on retinal explants, (A) single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and (B) thiol-single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT-SH). LDH accumulated in the explant medium over time. Thus, we observed crescent values of absorbance (500 nm) after 1, 2, and 4 h. We did not detect significant differences in LDH concentrations that were released by undamaged retinas incubated with the two distinct nanotube compounds (10 µg/mL). (C) As a positive control, we compared the concentrations of LDH that was released from 1-day-lesioned vs. nonlesioned retinal explants. As expected, lesioned retinas released more LDH (n = 6, *P<0.01). (D) Explant medium was diluted in different concentrations and tested in an LDH assay. A linear regression analysis of the plots generated from medium serial dilutions ranging from 100% to 25% revealed high correlations between the concentrations and the readouts (R2 = 0.9786), indicating detection linearity.
