Single-walled carbon-nanohorns (SNH) exhibit huge application prospects. Notably, spherical SNH possess different morphology from conventional carbon nanotubes (CNT). However, there is a tremendous lack of studies on the nanotoxicity and mechanism of SNH, and their comparison with nanotubes. Here, the dissimilarity between SNH and CNT is found in many aspects including necrosis, pyroptosis, apoptosis, protein expression, hydrolases leakage, lysosome stress, membrane disturbance and the interaction with membrane proteins. The improved biocompatibility of SNH over four types of established CNT is clearly demonstrated in macrophages. Importantly, a key transmembrane protein, glycoprotein nonmetastatic melanoma protein B (GPNMB) is discovered to initiate the nanotoxicity. Compared to CNT, the weaker nano-GPNMB interaction in SNH group induces lower degree of cascade actions from nano/membrane interplay to final cell hypotoxicity. In conclusion, the geometry of single-construct unit, but not that of dispersive forms or intracellular levels of nanocarbons make the most difference.

中文翻译：

---

单壁碳纳米角通过触发较少的蛋白引发的热解和巨噬细胞凋亡来改善与纳米管的生物相容性。

单壁碳纳米角（SNH）具有广阔的应用前景。值得注意的是，球形SNH具有与常规碳纳米管（CNT）不同的形态。但是，关于SNH的纳米毒性和机理及其与纳米管的比较，尚缺乏足够的研究。在此，在许多方面发现了SNH与CNT之间的差异，包括坏死，焦磷酸化，凋亡，蛋白质表达，水解酶泄漏，溶酶体应激，膜紊乱以及与膜蛋白的相互作用。在巨噬细胞中清楚地证明了SNH在四种类型的已建立的CNT上生物相容性得到了改善。重要的是，发现了关键的跨膜蛋白，糖蛋白非转移性黑色素瘤蛋白B（GPNMB）引发了纳米毒性。与CNT相比，SNH组中较弱的nano-GPNMB相互作用导致较低的级联作用程度，从纳米/膜相互作用到最终细胞的低毒性。总之，单结构单元的几何形状差异最大，而分散形式或细胞内水平的纳米碳的几何形状差异最大。