Letter abstract
Nature Nanotechnology 2, 47 - 52 (2006)
Published online: 17 December 2006 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2006.170
Subject Categories: Carbon nanotubes and fullerenes | Nanobiotechnology | Nanomedicine
In vivo biodistribution and highly efficient tumour targeting of carbon nanotubes in mice
Zhuang Liu1,3, Weibo Cai2,3, Lina He2, Nozomi Nakayama1, Kai Chen2, Xiaoming Sun1, Xiaoyuan Chen2 & Hongjie Dai1
Abstract
Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) exhibit unique size, shape and physical properties1, 2, 3 that make them promising candidates for biological applications. Here, we investigate the biodistribution of radio-labelled SWNTs in mice by in vivo positron emission tomography (PET), ex vivo biodistribution and Raman spectroscopy. It is found that SWNTs that are functionalized with phospholipids bearing polyethylene-glycol (PEG) are surprisingly stable in vivo. The effect of PEG chain length on the biodistribution and circulation of the SWNTs is studied. Effectively PEGylated SWNTs exhibit relatively long blood circulation times and low uptake by the reticuloendothelial system (RES). Efficient targeting of integrin positive tumour in mice is achieved with SWNTs coated with PEG chains linked to an arginine–glycine–aspartic acid (RGD) peptide. A high tumour accumulation is attributed to the multivalent effect of the SWNTs. The Raman signatures of SWNTs are used to directly probe the presence of nanotubes in mice tissues and confirm the radio-label-based results.
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
- The Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Department of Radiology and Bio-X Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA
- These authors contributed equally to this work
Correspondence to: Hongjie Dai1 e-mail: hdai@stanford.edu
Correspondence to: Xiaoyuan Chen2 e-mail: shawchen@stanford.edu
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Nanomedicine Nanotechnology tackles tumoursNature Nanotechnology News and Views (01 Jan 2007)
Nanotoxicology Are carbon nanotubes safe?Nature Nanotechnology News and Views (01 Apr 2008)
See all 4 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Gene therapy for barrett's esophagus: adenoviral gene transfer in different intestinal modelsCancer Gene Therapy Original Article
A CD14-independent LPS receptor clusterNature Immunology Article (01 Apr 2001)
See all 27 matches for Research
