Lee Yeonju, Geckeler Kurt E
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), 1 Oryong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712, South Korea.
Department of Nanobio Materials and Electronics, World-Class University (WCU), and Institute of Medical System Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), 1 Oryong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712, South Korea.
Macromol Rapid Commun. 2011 Oct 4;32(19):1518-25. doi: 10.1002/marc.201100226. Epub 2011 Jul 13.
The cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has recently attracted considerable interest because of the issue of biosphere-nanomaterial interactions. The biocompatibility of CNTs is determined by the metal impurities in the CNTs, the size of the CNTs and the CNT dispersion states; in particular, the type of surface modifications on the CNTs affects how they interact with cells and determines their cytotoxicity and cellular uptake. In this study, biocompatible single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) wrapped with a water-soluble copolymer, poly[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate-co-methacrylic acid] (PDM), were prepared. We report that these SWNTs have enhanced water dispersibility and cellular internalization but no significant cytotoxic activity against mouse embryonic fibroblast NIH-3T3 cells.
