The interactions of single-wall carbon nanohorns with polar epithelium

Yujie Shi,1 Zujin Shi,2 Suxin Li,1 Yuan Zhang,3 Bing He,1 Dong Peng,4 Jie Tian,4 Ming Zhao,5 Xueqing Wang,1 Qiang Zhang1 1Beijing Key Laboratory of Molecular Pharmaceutics and New Drug Delivery Systems, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Lab of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA; 4Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 5Department of Chemical Biology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Single-wall carbon nanohorns (SWCNHs), which have multitudes of horn interstices, an extensive surface area, and a spherical aggregate structure, offer many advantages over other carbon nanomaterials being used as a drug nanovector. The previous studies on the interaction between SWCNHs and cells have mostly emphasized on cellular uptake and intracellular trafficking, but seldom on epithelial cells. Polar epithelium as a typical biological barrier constitutes the prime obstacle for the transport of therapeutic agents to target site. This work tried to explore the permeability of SWCNHs through polar epithelium and their abilities to modulate transcellular transport, and evaluate the potential of SWCNHs in drug delivery. Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell monolayer was used as a polar epithelial cell model, and as-grown SWCNHs, together with oxidized and fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated bovine serum albumin-labeled forms, were constructed and comprehensively investigated in vitro and in vivo. Various methods such as transmission electron microscopy and confocal imaging were used to visualize their intracellular upta