Carbon Nanotube Fibers Are Compatible With Mammalian Cells and Neurons

Abstract

We demonstrate the biocompatibility of carbon nanotube fibers (CNFs) fabricated from single-wall carbon nanotubes. Produced by a particle-coagulation spinning process, CNFs are "hair-like" conductive microwires, which uniquely combine properties of porous nanostructured scaffolds, high-area electrodes, and permeable microfluidic conduits. We report that CNFs are nontoxic and support the attachment, spreading, and growth of mammalian cells and the extension of processes from neurons in vitro. Our findings suggest that CNF may be employed for an electrical interfacing of nerve cells and external devices.

Evaluation of cardiovascular toxicity of carbon nanotubes functionalized with sodium hyaluronate in oral regenerative medicine

“…In general, the present results are in keeping with previous reports showing that CNTs have low toxicity, low immunogenicity, and good biocompatibility (16). For example, a previous study found no apparent changes in cell viability of cardiomyocytes, even when a higher dose of CNTs was used (17).…”

“…Conflicting results regarding clearance, distribution, and toxicity are reported in the literature (14,16), which is likely due to the characteristics of the material used, i.e., differences in the physical properties and structure, as well as pretreatment processes, surfaces, aggregation, purity, functionalization, experimental protocol, administration form, and concentration. Thus, the toxicity must be assessed individually for each type of CNT-based biocomposite and in each physiological system involved.…”

“…In the present study, no significant changes in cardiac function were found. Moreover, CNTs are compatible with other mammalian cell types, i.e., neurons (16). …”

Alignment of muscle precursor cells on the vertical edges of thick carbon nanotube films

“…A survey of recent literature using CNTs as cell growth substrates and effects on biological activity is shown in Table 1 [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][17][18][19][24][25][26][27] of the Supplementary data. An examination of these literature shows that both MWNT and SWNT are able to perform well as bioactive supports for many cell types and that aligned MWNTs can influence cell alignment.…”

“…However the in-vivo study is a very different and more complex environment than on synthetic nanotube substrates as we have here or other similar studies. Single-wall CNTs have been shown to support the growth of carcinoma cells, fibroblasts, neuronal cells [17,18] and osteoblasts [19].…”