Ciofani Gianni, Raffa Vittoria, Menciassi Arianna, Cuschieri Alfred
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Piazza Martiri della Libertà, 33-56127 Pisa, Italy.
Biotechnol Bioeng. 2008 Nov 1;101(4):850-8. doi: 10.1002/bit.21952.
Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) have unique physical properties, which can be exploited in the biomedical field. Hence, the surprising lack of reported studies on their biocompatibility and interactions with living cells, addressed by the present paper which deals the results of such an investigation based on 72 h culture of human neuroblastoma cell line (SH-SY5Y) in the presence of an aqueous suspension of polyethyleneimine (PEI)-coated BNNTs. BNNTs conjugated with fluorescent markers (quantum dots) are employed to enable tracking of their uptake by living cells. The results demonstrate good cytocompatibility together with unequivocal BNNT cellular uptake by an energy-dependent endocytic process.
氮化硼纳米管（BNNTs）具有独特的物理性质，可在生物医学领域加以利用。因此，令人惊讶的是，关于其生物相容性以及与活细胞相互作用的研究报道极少，本文针对这一情况进行了探讨，该研究基于在聚乙烯亚胺（PEI）包覆的BNNTs水悬浮液存在的条件下，对人神经母细胞瘤细胞系（SH-SY5Y）进行72小时培养的结果。与荧光标记物（量子点）共轭的BNNTs用于追踪活细胞对它们的摄取。结果表明其具有良好的细胞相容性，并且通过能量依赖的内吞过程明确显示BNNTs被细胞摄取。
