| 초록 |
Carbon nanotubes show promising properties such as a high aspect ratio, ordered structure, chemical stability, and a high surface area. In addition, they can act as drug carriers, nanoneedles, or nano-injectors. In spite of these advantages, their hydrophobic surface and aggregated nature hinder their applications to biological fields because of the cytotoxicity issue. In this study, different proteins were used to disperse the nanotubes and the experimental conditions, namely the dispersion media such as water, phosphate buffer, cell culture media, as well as the storage temperature were investigated. The dispersions were characterized by Zeta-potential measurements, UV-Vis and Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The conformation changes of the proteins were characterized by circular dichroism spectroscopy. In addition, in vitro cytotoxicity tests on cultures of fibroblast cells were performed to determine the cell proliferation. |
