<i>In vitro</i>cytotoxicity of functionalized single walled carbon nanotubes for targeted gene delivery applications

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes are a novel class of nanomaterials that have great potential in the field of biomedical research. This study investigates the cytotoxic effects of functionalized single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) at different concentrations on a colon cancer cell line. Colorectal cancer cells were exposed to single walled carbon nanotubes functionalized with a green fluorescent protein expressing plasmid. The internalization of the nanotube-plasmid DNA complexes and their cytotoxicity were analyzed. The results indicate successful functionalization of the nanotubes and subsequent internalization of the nanotube-plasmid DNA complex by the cancer cells. The cytotoxicity was found to be significantly lower compared to a control. Cell viability was shown to have reduced with an increase in carbon nanotube concentration implying that SWNTs can be cytotoxic at higher dosages. The results show that SWNTs can be successfully used in gene delivery applications and their cytotoxic effects can be limited by optimizing the dosage levels.