title: Fullerene derivatives: an attractive tool for biological applications.
abstract: The fullerene family, and especially C60, has very appealing photo-, electro-chemical and physical properties, which can be exploited in many and different biological fields. Fullerene is able to fit inside the hydrophobic cavity of HIV proteases, inhibiting the access of substrates to the catalytic site of the enzyme. It can be used as radical scavenger; in fact some water-soluble derivatives are able to reduce ROS concentrations. At the same time, if exposed to light, fullerene can produce singlet oxygen in high quantum yields. This action, together with the direct electron transfer from excited state of fullerene and DNA bases, can be used to cleave DNA. In this review we report the most recent aspects of fullerene biological applications.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Piazzale Europa 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bosi
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Da Ros
authors.forename: Giampiero
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Spalluto
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prato
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D037741:Fullerenes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D037741:Fullerenes; C069837:fullerene C60