Cyborgs Structured with Carbon Nanotubes and Plant or Fungal Cells: Artificial Tissue Engineering for Mechanical and Ele
- PDF / 793,183 Bytes
- 6 Pages / 612 x 792 pts (letter) Page_size
- 79 Downloads / 157 Views
Cyborgs Structured with Carbon Nanotubes and Plant or Fungal Cells: Artificial Tissue Engineering for Mechanical and Electronic Uses Raffaele Di Giacomo1, Bruno Maresca2, Maurizio Angelillo3, Amalia Porta2, Antonietta Leone2, Giovani Carapella4 and Heinz C. Neitzert1. 1 Dept. of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Ponte don Melillo 1, 84084 Fisciano, (SA), Italy 2 Dept. of Pharmacy, University of Salerno, Via Ponte don Melillo 1, 84084 Fisciano, (SA), Italy 3 Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Ponte don Melillo 1, 84084 Fisciano, (SA), Italy. 4 Dept. of Physics "E. R. Caianiello" and CNR-SPIN, University of Salerno, Via Ponte don Melillo 1, 84084 Fisciano, (SA), Italy. ABSTRACT Here we present new materials obtained using, either fungal or isolated tobacco cells in association with different percentages of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). As a proof of concept, we used either Candida albicans or a non-green Tobacco BY-2 cell line combined with multi-walled CNTs. The electrical, mechanical, and conductivity vs temperature properties for some of these materials have been determined. C. albicans-based tissues have high conductivity and are stable at elevated temperatures. By lowering the CNTs content, we obtained a stable, electrically conductive optical transparent film, though with a relatively high sheet resistance. Further, we produced, using tobacco cells, a material that exhibits good electrical as well as mechanical properties. INTRODUCTION Synthetic scaffolds for biological tissues have been produced with different biological components [1-5]. Bio-materials with interesting mechanical [6] or electrical [7] properties have also been generated. However, cyborg tissue materials composed of single cells and CNTs with intrinsic properties dedicated to non-biological applications have not been reported yet. CNTs can enhance the electrical conductivity of composite materials and are useful, when embedded into a stabilizing matrix material, as reliable temperature sensors as well as heating elements [810]. CNTs also interact with cells without causing significant decrease of their viability [11,12]. In addition, the efficiency of cell uptake of peptides, proteins, DNA and drugs is enhanced when these molecules are delivered in association with functionalized CNTs [13]. We have recently shown that a tissue, composed of multi walled CNTs (MWCNTs) and fungal cells of C. albicans is a bio-nano-composites with stable electrical properties [14]. Here, we present a general procedure to generate cyborg tissue materials, using either fungal or isolated plant cells. In the case of the C. albicans-based material the concentration of nanotubes has also been changed, optimizing either the electrical or the optical properties. EXPERIMENT Three types of different materials have been produced and investigated: Type I: C. albicans with 20% of a stock solution containing 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) saturated with multi-
walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs); Type II: C. albicans with 6.6% of a stock solution
Data Loading...
