Dual Devices To Harness Carbon Nanomaterials For Enhanced Drug Delivery Systems

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh have reported two nanoscale devices (recently in two separate journals) harness the potential of carbon nanomaterials to enhance technologies for drug or imaging agent delivery and energy storage systems. They also bolster the sensitivity of oxygen sensors essential in confined settings, from mines to spacecrafts.

In a report published online by Advanced Materials August 12, a team led by chemistry professors, Alexander Star and Stephane Petoud in Pitt’s School of Arts and Sciences, describe the creation of nanosized capsules (that are universally compatible with a range of substances) particularly related to medicine and energy. When applied to medicine, the tiny vessels can potentially carry a sizable cargo of anticancer drugs or medical-imaging agents, and could be steered via antibodies and biological molecules to specific locations within the human body.

Regarding the nanocapsules described in Advanced Materials, existing technologies are typically constructed of polymers that are permeable like a sponge and can result in leakage, professor Star explained. Additionally, each capsule must be tailored to its particular cargo, he added.

Star said: “For decades, researchers have been searching for an optimal vessel for storing and transporting a variety of cargo to specified locations. Our devices have the potential to be universal delivery vehicles for a range of materials. Our next steps will focus on controlling how and when the nanocapsules open by using different stimuli such as pH, light, and chemical agents.”

To illustrate the capsules’ adaptability, the team loaded them with a luminescent imaging agent developed in professor Petoud’s lab made of zinc sulfide semiconductor nanocrystals incorporating terbium, a metal chemically similar to europium. Once in the body, the substance would emit a unique light that allows easier detection and a better image, hesaid. But the inorganic nanocrystals have to be prepared before being introduced to a biological environment such as the body and is difficult and time-consuming. The graphite nanocapsules, however, could hold and transport the solution with no preparation.