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Delivery of molecules into cells using carbon nanoparticles activated by femtosecond laser pulses

Nature Nanotechnology volume 5, pages 607–611 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

A major barrier to drug and gene delivery is crossing the cell's plasma membrane. Physical forces applied to cells via electroporation1, ultrasound2 and laser irradiation3,4,5,6 generate nanoscale holes in the plasma membrane for direct delivery of drugs into the cytoplasm. Inspired by previous work showing that laser excitation of carbon nanoparticles can drive the carbon-steam reaction to generate highly controlled shock waves7,8,9,10, we show that carbon black nanoparticles activated by femtosecond laser pulses can facilitate the delivery of small molecules, proteins and DNA into two types of cells. Our initial results suggest that interaction between the laser energy and carbon black nanoparticles may generate photoacoustic forces by chemical reaction to create transient holes in the membrane for intracellular delivery.

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Figure 1: Intracellular uptake in cells exposed to femtosecond laser irradiation in the presence of CB.
Figure 2: Effect of CB nanoparticle and cell type on uptake and viability.
Figure 3: Uptake and expression of plasmid DNA.
Figure 4: Effect of laser fluence and exposure time on intracellular calcein uptake (a) and cell viability (b) in DU145 cells.
Figure 5: Effect of irradiation conditions on intracellular uptake of calcein in DU145 cells.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank S. Graham for use of his pressure measurement apparatus, S. Nair for technical discussions, and J.-H. Park, D. Hallow, R. Schlicher, J. Hutcheson and Y. Liu for helpful discussions and laboratory assistance. This work was supported in part by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Institute of Paper Science and Technology and was carried out in the Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Center for Drug Design, Development and Delivery, and Laser Dynamics Laboratory at Georgia Tech.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, 30332, Georgia, USA

    Prerona Chakravarty & Mark R. Prausnitz

  2. Laser Dynamics Laboratory, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, 30332, Georgia, USA

    Wei Qian & Mostafa A. El-Sayed

Authors
  1. Prerona Chakravarty
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  2. Wei Qian
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  4. Mark R. Prausnitz
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Contributions

P.C. carried out the study in collaboration with W.Q., who provided laser expertise. M.R.P. and M.A.E. were the principal investigators. All authors participated in study design and interpretation. P.C. and M.R.P. wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Mark R. Prausnitz.

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Chakravarty, P., Qian, W., El-Sayed, M. et al. Delivery of molecules into cells using carbon nanoparticles activated by femtosecond laser pulses. Nature Nanotech 5, 607–611 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2010.126

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