Cellular localisation of a water-soluble fullerene derivative.
Fullerenes are a new class of compounds with potential uses in biology and medicine and many insights were made in the knowledge of their interaction with various biological systems. However, their interaction with organised living systems as well as the site of their potential action remains unclear. In this work, we have demonstrated that a fullerene derivative could cross the external cellular membrane and it localises preferentially to the mitochondria. We propose that our finding supports the potential use of fullerenes as drug delivery agents as their structure mimics that of clathrin known to mediate endocytosis.
Foley
Sarah
S
I.E.M. UMR 5635 CNRS, 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
Crowley
Colin
C
Smaihi
Monique
M
Bonfils
Claude
C
Erlanger
Bernard F
BF
Seta
Patrick
P
Larroque
Christian
C
D000818:Animals; D019556:COS Cells; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D037741:Fullerenes; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism; D012995:Solubility; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D014867:Water
D037741:Fullerenes; D014867:Water; D002244:Carbon; C069837:fullerene C60