Can the properties of carbon nanotubes influence their internalization by living cells?
Can the properties of carbon nanotubes influence their internalization by living cells?
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DOI：
10.1016/j.carbon.2008.06.053
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发表时间：
2008-10-01
期刊：
影响因子：
10.9
通讯作者：
Cuschieri, Alfred
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Raffa, Vittoria;Ciofani, Gianni;Cuschieri, Alfred
碳纳米管（CNTs）由于其高的穿过细胞膜的倾向而作为（生物）分子的细胞内转运体广泛用于生物医学应用。然而，在文献中关于它们的吸收机制存在明显的差异，这应该与纳米管材料中存在的差异以及实验程序有关。尽管有一些关于CNT表面化学的影响的研究，但非官能化CNT的性质在细胞摄取中的作用在很大程度上还没有被研究。在这项工作中，不同种类的多壁碳纳米管（MWCNTs）的生产和充分的特点，在直径，长度，金属杂质，碳烟灰和表面化学。这些多壁碳纳米管样品在体外进行测试，并通过使用标准荧光探针间接评估细胞摄取，并通过TEM图像确认。我们的分析表明，纳米管的长度明显影响其吸收和较短的（分1 μ m）多壁碳纳米管更容易被内化通过一个能量独立的途径。本研究的结果可能有助于设计有前途的基于CNT的细胞治疗载体。(C)2008爱思唯尔有限公司保留所有权利。
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-1 mu m) 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. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.