Issue 44, 2017

Carbon dots: promising biomaterials for bone-specific imaging and drug delivery

Abstract

Bone-related diseases and dysfunctions are heavy burdens on our increasingly aged society. One important strategy to relieve this problem is through early detection and treatment of bone-related diseases. Towards this goal, there has been constant interest in developing novel bone-specific materials for imaging and drug delivery. Currently, however, materials that have high affinity and specificity towards bone are very limited. Carbon dots (C-dots) synthesized from carbon nanopowder bind to calcified bones in vivo with high affinity and specificity. In this study we show that bone binding is highly unique to a specific type of C-dot, and that this binding is non-toxic. Significantly, C-dots derived from other raw materials did not show any bone binding properties. These differences are attributed to the differences in surface chemistry of C-dot preparations, highlighting the heterogeneous nature of C-dots. Importantly, bone-binding by carbon nanopowder derived C-dots is not significantly altered by chemical functionalization of their surface. These unique properties indicate the potential applications of carbon nanopowder-derived C-dots as highly bone-specific bioimaging agents and drug carriers.

Graphical abstract: Carbon dots: promising biomaterials for bone-specific imaging and drug delivery

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 Aug 2017
Accepted
03 Oct 2017
First published
04 Oct 2017

Nanoscale, 2017,9, 17533-17543

Carbon dots: promising biomaterials for bone-specific imaging and drug delivery

Z. Peng, E. H. Miyanji, Y. Zhou, J. Pardo, S. D. Hettiarachchi, S. Li, P. L. Blackwelder, I. Skromne and R. M. Leblanc, Nanoscale, 2017, 9, 17533 DOI: 10.1039/C7NR05731H

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