title: Pharmacokinetics, metabolism and toxicity of carbon nanotubes for biomedical purposes.
abstract: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted great interest of the nano community and beyond. However, the biomedical applications of CNTs arouse serious concerns for their unknown in vivo consequence, in which the information of pharmacokinetics, metabolism and toxicity of CNTs is essential. In this review, we summarize the updated data of CNTs from the biomedical view. The information shows that surface chemistry is crucial in regulating the in vivo behaviors of CNTs. Among the functionalization methods, PEGylation is the most efficient one to improve the pharmacokinetics and biocompatibility of CNTs. The guiding effects of the pharmacokinetics, metabolism and toxicity information on the biomedical applications of CNTs are discussed.
authors.affiliation: 1. College of Chemistry and Environment Protection Engineering, Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Sheng-Tao
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jianbin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Qinghan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Haifang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang