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Cell Trafficking of Carbon Nanotubes Based on Fluorescence Detection

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Carbon Nanotubes

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 625))

Abstract

Cell trafficking of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is an area of scientific inquiry that has great implications in medicine, biosensing, and environmental science and engineering. The essence of this inquiry resides in the interaction of carbon nanostructures and cell membranes, regulated by the laws of molecular cell biology and the physiochemical properties of the nanostructures. Of equal importance to this inquiry is a description of cellular responses to the integration of man-made materials; yet, how cellular responses may invoke whole-organism level reaction remains unclear. In this chapter, we show three experimental studies, which may be beneficial to obtaining such an understanding. Among the reservoir of methodologies, which have proved of merit, we focus our attention on fluorescence microscopy, one of the most powerful and yet least invasive means of probing nanoparticles in biological systems. Especially, we present the method of fluorescence energy transfer induced between a lysophospholipid molecule and a single-walled CNT upon cellular uptake, and describe coating nanotubes with RNA and suspending fullerenes with phenolic acids for facilitating their translocation across cell membranes and shuttling between cell organelles. Finally, we comment on the perspective of using molecular simulations for facilitating and guiding such experiments.

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Acknowledgments

Ke thanks Drs. Emppu Salonen, Ilpo Vattulainen, Xi Wang, Yonnie Wu, and his students Sijie Lin and Jessica Moore for contributions instrumental to this presentation. The authors acknowledge financial support from NSF grants CBET-0736037 (PCK), CAREER CBET-0744040 (PCK), CBET-0403864 (MHL), and OCI-0749156 (MHL).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

    Monica H. Lamm

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA

    Pu Chun Ke

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  1. Monica H. Lamm
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  2. Pu Chun Ke
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. MPI für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstr. 1, Stuttgart, 70569, Germany

    Kannan Balasubramanian

  2. MPI für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstr. 1, Stuttgart, 70569, Germany

    Marko Burghard

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Lamm, M.H., Ke, P.C. (2010). Cell Trafficking of Carbon Nanotubes Based on Fluorescence Detection. In: Balasubramanian, K., Burghard, M. (eds) Carbon Nanotubes. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 625. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-579-8_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-579-8_12

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-60761-577-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-60761-579-8

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