Can the properties of carbon nanotubes influence their internalization by living cells?

阅读量：

作者：

V Raffa，G Ciofani，S Nitodas，T Karachalios，D D’Alessandro，M Masini，A Cuschieri

展开

摘要：

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are widely used for biomedical applications as intracellular transporters of (bio)molecules, due to their high propensity to cross cell membranes. However, there is a clear discrepancy in the literature about their uptake mechanism, which should be related to the differences existing in the nanotube materials, as well as the experimental procedures. Despite the fact that there are some studies on the influence of the CNT surface chemistry, the role of the properties of non-functionalized CNTs in cellular uptake has not been much investigated to a great extent. In this work, different kinds of multi-wall CNTs (MWCNTs) are produced and fully characterized, in terms of diameter, length, metal impurity, carbon soot and surface chemistry. These MWCNT samples are tested in vitro, and the cellular uptake is indirectly evaluated by using standard fluorescent probes and confirmed by TEM images. Our assays demonstrate that nanotube length clearly influences their uptake and shorter (sub-1μm) MWCNTs are easier to be internalized through an energy-independent pathway. The results of this investigation may be useful for the design of promising CNT-based vectors for cell therapy.

展开

关键词：

Practical, Experimental/ biochemistry biomembrane transport carbon nanotubes fluorescence molecular biophysics nanobiotechnology surface chemistry transmission electron microscopy/ carbon nanotubes living cells biomedical applications intracellular transporter cell membrane cellular uptake mechanism CNT surface chemistry fluorescent probes TEM images energy-independent pathway cell therapy/ A8783 Nanotechnology applications in biomedicine A8720 Membrane biophysics A8725D Biological transport cellular and subcellular transmembrane physics A8715D Physical chemistry of biomolecular solutions condensed states