Liu Zhuang, Tabakman Scott, Welsher Kevin, Dai Hongjie
Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA.
Nano Res. 2009 Feb 1;2(2):85-120. doi: 10.1007/s12274-009-9009-8.
Carbon nanotubes exhibit many unique intrinsic physical and chemical properties and have been intensively explored for biological and biomedical applications in the past few years. In this comprehensive review, we summarize the main results from our and other groups in this field and clarify that surface functionalization is critical to the behavior of carbon nanotubes in biological systems. Ultrasensitive detection of biological species with carbon nanotubes can be realized after surface passivation to inhibit the non-specific binding of biomolecules on the hydrophobic nanotube surface. Electrical nanosensors based on nanotubes provide a label-free approach to biological detection. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy of carbon nanotubes opens up a method of protein microarray with detection sensitivity down to 1 fmol/L. In vitro and in vivo toxicity studies reveal that highly water soluble and serum stable nanotubes are biocompatible, nontoxic, and potentially useful for biomedical applications. In vivo biodistributions vary with the functionalization and possibly also size of nanotubes, with a tendency to accumulate in the reticuloendothelial system (RES), including the liver and spleen, after intravenous administration. If well functionalized, nanotubes may be excreted mainly through the biliary pathway in feces. Carbon nanotube-based drug delivery has shown promise in various In vitro and in vivo experiments including delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA), paclitaxel and doxorubicin. Moreover, single-walled carbon nanotubes with various interesting intrinsic optical properties have been used as novel photoluminescence, Raman, and photoacoustic contrast agents for imaging of cells and animals. Further multidisciplinary explorations in this field may bring new opportunities in the realm of biomedicine.
碳纳米管具有许多独特的固有物理和化学性质，在过去几年中已被广泛探索用于生物和生物医学应用。在这篇综述中，我们总结了我们团队和其他团队在该领域的主要研究成果，并阐明表面功能化对于碳纳米管在生物系统中的行为至关重要。对碳纳米管进行表面钝化以抑制生物分子在疏水纳米管表面的非特异性结合后，可实现对生物物种的超灵敏检测。基于纳米管的电纳米传感器为生物检测提供了一种无标记方法。碳纳米管的表面增强拉曼光谱开辟了一种蛋白质微阵列检测方法，检测灵敏度低至1 fmol/L。体外和体内毒性研究表明，高度水溶性和血清稳定性的纳米管具有生物相容性、无毒，并且在生物医学应用中具有潜在用途。体内生物分布随纳米管的功能化以及可能的尺寸而变化，静脉注射后有在包括肝脏和脾脏在内的网状内皮系统（RES）中积累的趋势。如果功能化良好，纳米管可能主要通过胆汁途径随粪便排出。基于碳纳米管的药物递送在包括小干扰RNA（siRNA）、紫杉醇和阿霉素递送在内的各种体外和体内实验中都显示出了前景。此外，具有各种有趣固有光学性质的单壁碳纳米管已被用作新型光致发光、拉曼和光声造影剂，用于细胞和动物成像。该领域的进一步多学科探索可能会在生物医学领域带来新的机遇。
