Biodistribution of Aqueous Suspensions of Carbon Nanotubes in Mice and Their Biocompatibility

In this study, we prepared two-types of water-dispersible carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and investigated their biodistribution in mice as well as bio-/cyto-compatibility. After administration, their organs were excised at various post-injection times, then observed using both optical and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The color of the liver and lung markedly darkened, suggesting that administered CNTs reached these organs. By TEM observation, the CNTs were found in the liver and lung. They were observed even in the kidney and spleen, though their distributions in those organs were very low compared with that in liver and lung. Therefore, most of the administered CNTs would be accumulated in the liver or lung. However, the time profile of the body weight of CNT-administered mice was close to that of control mice. In addition, we estimated the cytocompatibility of the water-dispersible CNTs for hepatocytes. According to a TNF-alpha assay of the cells cultured with CNTs, the expression level was almost the same as that of the control. These results suggested that the water-dispersible CNTs have good bio-/cyto-compatibility under this condition.