Can carbon nanotubes used for drug delivery?

CNTs not only can deliver drugs of small molecules but also can deliver proteins. MWCNTs have been used as cellular carriers of recombined ricin A chain protein toxin (RAT) for tumor targeting.

How CNT is used in drug delivery?

CNT can be functionalised with bioactive peptides, proteins, nucleic acids and drugs, and used to deliver their cargos to cells and organs. Because functionalised CNT display low toxicity and are not immunogenic, such systems hold great potential in the field of nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine.

What are carbon nanotubes used for in medicine?

Applications of Carbon Nanotubes in Pharmacy and Medicine. The main applications of CNTs in pharmacy and medicine include drug, biomolecule, gene delivery to cells or organs, tissue regeneration, and biosensor diagnostics and analysis.

What is one characteristic of carbon nanotubes that makes them good candidates for drug delivery?

The unique properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) (such as their high surface to volume ratios, enhanced conductivity and strength, biocompatibility, ease of functionalization, optical properties, etc.) have led to their consideration to serve as novel drug and gene delivery carriers.

Why are nanotubes good for drug delivery?

Abstract: The unique properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) (such as their high surface to volume ratios, enhanced conductivity and strength, biocompatibility, ease of functionalization, optical properties, etc.) have led to their consideration to serve as novel drug and gene delivery carriers.

Why are nanotubes used in drug delivery?

Carbon nanotubes are promising drug delivery platforms that can be functionalized with a variety of biomolecules, such as antibodies, proteins, or DNA. Carbon nanotubes can easily penetrate cells, delivering drugs directly to the cytoplasm or nucleus.

What can nanotubes be used for?

As of 2013, carbon nanotube production exceeded several thousand tons per year, used for applications in energy storage, device modelling, automotive parts, boat hulls, sporting goods, water filters, thin-film electronics, coatings, actuators and electromagnetic shields.

What are the advantages of using nanotubes?

CNTs have proven to be an excellent additive to impart electrical conductivity in plastics. Their high aspect ratio (about 1000:1) imparts electrical conductivity at lower loadings, compared to conventional additive materials such as carbon black, chopped carbon fiber, or stainless steel fiber.

How strong are carbon nanotubes?

One property of nanotubes is that they’re really, really strong. Tensile strength is a measure of the amount of force an object can withstand without tearing apart. The tensile strength of carbon nanotubes is approximately 100 times greater than that of steel of the same diameter.

Are there any biomedical applications for carbon nanotube?

Though native CNTs without any modification still posses great potential for many other applications but functionalized CNTs have been found to have excellent biomedical applications. However, synthesis of CNTs is costly and difficult due to the requirement of high temperatures (around 500°C) and pressures.

What are the properties of a carbon nanotube?

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possess excellent properties in terms of their unique physicochemical properties and excellent architecture which make these as an alternative carrier for the delivery of various pharmaceutical ingredients.

How are CNTs used in the delivery of drugs?

While most CNT-based drug delivery system (DDS) had been engineered to combat cancers, there are also emerging reports that employ CNTs as either the main carrier or adjunct material for the delivery of various non-anticancer drugs.

Who was the first person to invent carbon nanotubes?

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were first invented by Sumio Iijima in Japan in 1991 [1]. CNTs are light weight and exhibit higher tensile strength, excellent thermal and chemical stabilities and good transport conductivity [2], [3], [4].