A rare and peculiar molecule may soon open doors to vast improvements in cell research and drug treatment.
Fullerene, or buckyballs, are capable of easily crossing cell membranes, which is typically a difficult feat. They are named after American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller and were discovered in 1985 by three scientists who later won a Noble Prize. University of Calgary biology professor Dr. Peter Tieleman discovered this trait in his lab after two years of research.
“One of the strange things about buckyballs and nanotubes, which are in the same family as buckyballs, is that they’re extremely insoluble,” explained Tieleman.
This may make buckyballs difficult to work with, but they still have a number of properties–including mechanical strength, electrical conductivity and heat resistance–that make them desirable. Dr. Luca Monticelli, a previous member of Tieleman’s team, believes commercial applications are possible.
“Carbon nanotubes are 50 times stronger than steel, so of course people are trying to figure out what to do with them,” he said. “I don’t know of any commercial product on the market consisting mainly of fullerene or nanotubes, but my guess is something will come up soon. Potential applications include industrial materials, drug delivery systems, batteries, fuel cells and even cosmetics.”
Their ability to easily cross cell membranes also leads to medical possibilities. Once a procedure is found to dissolve these molecules, interesting implications arise.
“You could think about having drugs attached to these molecules and then have them dragged across the cell membrane, which is often a barrier in applying drugs,” said Tieleman. “Cell membranes are meant to keep things out or keep things in. Habitually, they’re a wall. One of the limits in drug design is that many of the drugs that would have strong effects don’t do anything because they can’t get across the membrane.”
Buckyballs could even assist cell research by allowing attached fluorescent markers to light up specific areas of cells.
As of yet, clinical research will have to wait. The dangers of molecules that easily cross cell membranes need to be tested before other drugs can be attached to them. Most buckyballs are formed using artificial lightning under laboratory conditions, but trace amounts can be found in nature.
“Since so many applications have been proposed, many people think it is important to find out now whether these molecules are toxic or not before fullerene products go massively on the market,” said Monticelli. “There have been several studies showing that fullerene can pass the blood-brain barrier and cause brain damage in fish. A very recent study showed that inhaling carbon nanotubes results in lung damage similar to that caused by asbestos.”
Monticelli said the toxicity is still controversial. Little is known about how the cells break up clusters of fullerene which allows them to enter. He is now working to find out how buckyballs cross cell membranes into lung cells.