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Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to study the morphology and coagulation of human blood cells in contact with solid surfaces. Blood was extracted from the veins of healthy adult donors and the samples were used immediately after extraction, deposited either on borosilicate glass or diamond substrates. Some blood samples were anti-coagulated by adding heparin for single cell AFM imaging. No chemicals were used for attaching or immobilizing the cells. The diamond substrates were produced by chemical vapour deposition (CVD diamond) using a hot-filament CVD system fed with ethanol highly diluted in hydrogen. AFM imaging of isolated cells (anti-coagulated by heparin) was only possible on the glass substrates due to the lack of adherence of the cells to the diamond surface. The coagulation results suggest that blood clotting on diamond produces a less rough surface than blood clotting on glass.

Nanostructured diamond and diamond-like materials having good field electron emission properties have been prepared using a hot-filament assisted chemical vapour deposition system fed with ethanol/hydrogen/helium mixtures. The changes in the structure of the samples were determined by the hydrogen content in the gas mixture and varied from samples of nanocrystalline diamond with graphitic connection between the grains (for helium concentration 40 vol %). Although the samples had such structural differences, low threshold values for electron field emission in vacuum were observed for representative samples of low and high hydrogen concentrations in the gas feed.

Our data demonstrate that multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are internalized by macrophages, subsequently activating them to produce interleukin (IL)-12 (IL-12). This cytokine induced the proliferative response of T lymphocytes to a nonspecific mitogen and to ovalbumin (OVA). This increase in the proliferative response was accompanied by an increase in the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interferon-gamma (IFNγ), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) and IL-6, in mice inoculated with MWCNTs, whether or not they had been immunized with OVA. A decrease in the expression of transforming growth factor-beta (TGFβ) was observed in the mice treated with MWCNTs, whereas the suppression of the expression of both TGFβ and IL-10 was observed in mice that had been both treated and immunized. The activation of the T lymphocyte response by the pro-inflammatory cytokines leads to an increase in antibody production to OVA, suggesting the important immunostimulatory effect of carbon nanotubes.