Technical Reference #3293

3293.

Multifunctional Carbon Nanotube Cellular Endoscopes Riju Singhal; Zulfiya Orynbayeva; Ramalingam Venkat Kalyana Sundaram; Jun Jie Niu; Sayan Bhattacharyya; Elina A. Vitol; Michael G. Schrlau; Elisabeth S. Papazoglou; Gary Friedman*; and Yury Gogotsi*, Drexel University, Nature Nanotechnology, 6(3293), (2011)
Link To Paper

Abstract:
Glass micropipettes; atomic force microscope tips and nanoneedles can be used to interrogate cells; but these devices either have conical geometries that can damage cells during penetration or are incapable of continuous fluid handling. Here; we report a carbon-nanotube-based endoscope for interrogating cells; transporting fluids and performing optical and electrochemical diagnostics at the single organelle level. The endoscope; which is made by placing a multiwalled carbon nanotube (length; 50–60 µm) at the tip of a glass pipette; can probe the intracellular environment with a spatial resolution of ~100 nm and can also access organelles without disrupting the cell. When the nanotube is filled with magnetic nanoparticles; the endoscope can be remotely manoeuvered to transport nanoparticles and attolitre volumes of fluids to and from precise locations. Because they are mounted on conventional glass micropipettes; the endoscopes readily fit standard instruments; creating a broad range of opportunities for minimally invasive intracellular probing; drug delivery and single-cell surgery.

Keywords:
<div>Carbon nanotubes; Nanobiotechnology; Nanosensors and other devices.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div>

Materials & Methods:
HeLa cells seeded on MatTek glass-bottom dishes were loaded with 2 μM Fluo-4AM (Invitrogen) (excitation/emission wavelengths 488/560 nm) in working buffer: 137 mM NaCl; 5 mM KCl; 1 mM KH2PO4; HEPES 20 mM; pH 7.4; 1 mM MgCl2; 2 mM CaCl2; 10 mM Glucose.

Microscopic Technique
confocal, confocal laser scanning inverted microscope

Cell Type(s)
HeLa