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Carbon nanohorns used to selectively eliminate micro-organisms

Nanocarbons, such as carbon nanohorns (CNHs), carbon nanotubes and fullerenes, have attracted considerable attention for the variety of their potential applications. Above all, light-driven nanocarbons could open the way to a new range of photodynamic therapies.!~T y.GA$}A[J|R

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hl3b1~ A number of antibiotic-resistant micro-organisms are emerging all over the world. In addition, antibiotics are typically required to be highly selective to avoid causing severe side-effects. Thus, there is an increasing need for new and selective approaches to eliminate pathogenic microbes. ;qg#BF9~:A4k4dAE&F
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Our key finding is that synthesized molecular recognition element (MRE)–CNH complexes work as potent laser therapeutic agents for the highly selective elimination of micro-organisms. We successfully demonstrated that the NIR laser-driven CNHs could selectively eliminate microbes by real-time direct observation. tvZm*m
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Miyako Research GroupIt can be envisioned that the choice of appropriate MREs in the NIR laser-driven CNH system will allow the selective elimination of viruses as well as micro-organisms. Indeed, we are currently developing the antiviral agents by using the NIR laser-driven CNH system (we submitted a paper on the subject to Nanotechnology). By utilizing the photoinduced-exothermic phenomenon of CNHs, we are also studying their capability as drug carriers.

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