Our atmosphere contains a substantial number of nanoparticles in which some are unintentionally produced, whereas others are intentionally produced engineered nanoparticle. Among all ENPs, the single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes, spherical fullerenes, and dendrimers are attracting attention for biomedical applications, such as biosensor design, drug delivery, tumor therapy, and tissue engineering. Because of the inert nature of pristine carbon nanotubes (CNTs), it needs to be functionalized to make it reactive with other organic and inorganic materials. The functionalization leads to the addition of functional groups, e.g., C‖O, C▬O, ▬OH, and ▬COOH, to CNTs, which make them dispersible in solvents and suitable for numerous applications. Functionalized CNTs and their composite need to be tested for biocompatibility before real-time applications. Various toxicity mechanisms have been suggested for CNTs, including interference of transmembrane electron transfer, interruption/penetration of the cell envelope, oxidation of cell elements, and formulation of secondary products such as dissolved heavy metal ions or reactive oxygen species (ROS). Numerous studies have insinuated that well-functionalized CNTs are innoxious to animal cells, while raw CNTs or CNTs without functionalization manifest toxicity to cells at even modest dosage.
Part of the book: Perspective of Carbon Nanotubes
The reassessment of the literature stipulates that an increasing amount of research in exploring the Hydroxyapatite Carbon Nanotubes (HA-CNT) system for orthopedic application. Chemical precipitation, CNT functionalization, and spray drying are the routinely used methods for CNT dispersal in HA matrix for the application such as bone tissue engineering, nanostructured scaffolds, dental regeneration, myocardial regeneration, and skin regeneration. Although mechanical strength and biocompatibility is a substantial concern for the fabrication of structures. Developing composite and bioceramic scaffolding with different natural and synthetic biomaterials are the futuristic approach in the biomedical engineering field. The problems such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and mechanical resistance can be solved by combining natural, and artificial biomaterials. The natural biomaterials, such as collagen, cellulose, chitosan, have a close resemblance to the natural extracellular matrix (ECM). These materials are biocompatible, biodegradable. The artificial biomaterials, such as Poly Vinyl Pyrrolidone (PVP), Poly Capro Lactone (PCL), Poly Ethylene Glycol (PEG), and Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) are also the material of choice for the fabrication of the composite materials. Additional effort is necessary to fabricate biocompatible composite scaffolding for tissue engineering. Moreover, vascularization, differentiation, cellular proliferation, and cells to scaffold interaction are the foremost challenges in the area of tissue engineering that remains to overcome.
Part of the book: 21st Century Advanced Carbon Materials for Engineering Applications