(485d) Carbon Nanotubes Induced Cellular Biomeahanic Changes Is Depended On Treatment Time

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are applied for a variety of applications from nanocircuits, to hydrogen storage devices, and from opticals fibers to conductive plastics. Recently, their functionalization with biomolecules offer opportunities for exciting biological and biomedical applications in drug delivery or bioimaging. However, because of their interactions with biological systems and their ability to translocate and persist into the circulatory and lymphatic systems and tissues, concerns about CNTs intrinsic toxicity have risen. It is thus necessary to develop significant and sensitive advances analysis technologies for real time investigation of CNTs toxicity. Our research aims at elucidating the mechanisms involved in CNTs internalization and association with cellular systems by evaluating the overall effects on of CNTs on cellular biophysical properties-biomechanics. To unravel the biomolecular mechanisms of such interactions, we used Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Our results suggest that cellular exposure to CNTs leads to higher stiffness and distinctive elastic modulus distribution for human lung epithelial cells, especially in cell nucleus region. Further, those changes are depended on CNTs uptake and cellular translocation time. Such findings provide necessary data for understanding the complex mechanotransduction processes within the cells interacted to nanomaterials which may be functionally linked to CNTs induced cytotoxicity and/or genotoxicity, as well as their potential for cancer progress.