Morphological Observation of Interaction between PAMAM Dendrimer Modified SWCNT and Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Abstract

With the aim of observing morphological changes of pancreatic cancer cells transfected by PAMAM dendrimer modified single walled carbon nanotubes(SWCNT-PAMAM complexes), the SWCNT-PAMAM complexes were prepared and characterized by atom force microscopy. Then the prepared SWCNT-PAMAM complexes with different concentration such as 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 g/mL, were incubated with human pancreatic cancer cell line BXPC3 cells for 12 to 72 hours, the cytotoxicity of SWCNT-PAMAM complexes was investigated, cell slips were prepared and observed by transmission electron microscopy. Results showed that SWCNT-PAMAM complexes were prepared successfully, and could be transfected into human pancreatic cancer cells by the way of cell pinocytosis. With the extension of the transfecting time, rounded granular SWCNT-PAMAM complexes located not only in the cytoplasm, but also in the lysosome, as well as in the nucleus. Compared with normal control group, there existed no significant change in pancreatic cancer cell’s morphology, the SWCNT-PAMAM complexes within 25μg/ml did not exhibit obvious toxicity to pancreatic cancer cells. In conclusion, the prepared SWCNT-PAMAM complexes may be a low toxic, good stable vector for gene or drug delivery system.

Keywords

• pancreatic tumor cell
• single walled carbon nanotube
• polyamidoamine dendrimer
• electron microscopy
• atom force microscopy