Nano Today (2009) 4, 8—10 available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nanotoday NEWS AND OPINION Boron nitride nanotubes: An innovative tool for nanomedicine Gianni Ciofani a,* , Vittoria Raffa a , Arianna Menciassi a,b , Alfred Cuschieri a a Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Piazza Martiri della Libertà, 33, 56127 Pisa, Italy b Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Via Morego, 30, 16163 Genova, Italy Received 25 June 2008; received in revised form 29 August 2008; accepted 3 September 2008 Available online 25 September 2008 KEYWORDS Boron nitride nanotubes; Bio-nanotechnology; Nanomedicine Summary Boron nitride nanotubes are structural analogues of carbon nanotubes in nature: alternating B and N atoms entirely substitute for C atoms in a graphitic like sheet with almost no change in atomic spacing. Despite their unique physical and chemical properties, their use has not yet been exploited in the nanomedicine field. In this Opinion, the authors briefly summarize the results of their studies on the interactions between boron nitride nanotubes and living cells and outline future and realistic applications for their use in the biomedical field. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are of significant inter- est to the scientific community because of their unique and important properties ideal for structural and electronic applications [1]. BNNTs are structural analogues of car- bon nanotubes (CNTs) in nature: alternating B and N atoms entirely substitute for C atoms in a graphite-like sheet with almost no change in atomic spacing. However, despite this similarity, carbon and boron nitride nanotubes exhibit many different properties [2]. While possessing a high Young modulus similar to CNTs, BNNTs have superior chemical and thermal stability and have recently been shown to have excellent piezoelectric prop- erties, superior to those of piezoelectric polymers. These * Corresponding author at: Scuola Superiore di Studi Universi- tari e Perfezionamento Sant’Anna, CRIM Lab — Center for Applied Research in Micro and Nano Engineering, c/o Cisanello Hospital, Building 102, Via Paradisa, 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy. Tel.: +39 050995625; fax: +39 050995676. E-mail address: g.ciofani@sssup.it (G. Ciofani). properties render BNNTs potentially attractive candidates for a wide range of applications in the nano domain. Whereas many applications of CNTs in the field of biomed- ical technology have been proposed in the past few years [3], the translation of BNNTs for use in this field has been largely unexplored. One reason for this stems from the high chemical stability of BNNTs, which accounts for their poor dispersibility in the aqueous solvents required for biologi- cal applications. This problem has been recently resolved using a technique of non-covalent polymeric wrapping that allows aqueous dispersion of BNNTs and hence biocompati- bility, enabling studies on their interaction with and effects on living cells [4]. Our studies of the cytocompatibility of BNNTs with human neuroblastoma cells demonstrate that their cellular up-take does not have adverse effects on viability, metabolism, and replication of this cell line. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of the interaction of BNNTs with living cells. Moreover, fluorescent labeling of BNNTs with quantum dots enables us to track the cellular up-take and internalization of polymer wrapped BNNTs via the endocytosis pathway [5]. 1748-0132/$ — see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.nantod.2008.09.001