In this study the application of porous carbon microparticles for the transport of a sparingly soluble material into cells is demonstrated. Carbon offers an intrinsically sustainable platform material that can meet the multiple and complex requirements imposed by applications in biology and medicine. Porous carbon microparticles are attractive as they are easy to handle and manipulate and combine the chemical versatility and biocompatibility of carbon with a high surface area due to their highly porous structure. The uptake of fluorescently labeled microparticles by cancer (HeLa) and normal human embryonic Kidney (HEK 293) cells was monitored by confocal fluorescence microscopy. In this way the influence of particle size, surface functionalization and the presence of transfection agent on cellular uptake were studied. In the presence of transfection agent both large (690 nm) and small microparticles (250 nm) were readily internalized by both cell lines. However, in absence of the transfection agent the uptake was influenced by particle size and surface PEGylation with the smaller nanoparticle size being delivered. The ability of microparticles to deliver a fluorescein dye model cargo was also demonstrated in normal (HEK 293) cell line. Taken together, these results indicate the potential use of these materials as candidates for biological applications.

在这项研究中，证明了多孔碳微粒在将难溶材料运输到细胞中的应用。碳提供了一种本质上可持续的平台材料，可以满足生物学和医学应用提出的多种复杂的要求。多孔碳微粒很有吸引力，因为它们易于处理和操作，并且将碳的化学多功能性和生物相容性与由于其高度多孔结构而具有的高表面积结合起来。通过共聚焦荧光显微镜监测癌症 (HeLa) 和正常人胚肾 (HEK 293) 细胞对荧光标记微粒的摄取。通过这种方式，研究了颗粒尺寸、表面功能化和转染剂的存在对细胞摄取的影响。在转染剂存在的情况下，大微粒（690 nm）和小微粒（250 nm）都很容易被两种细胞系内化。然而，在不存在转染剂的情况下，摄取受到颗粒尺寸和表面聚乙二醇化的影响，所递送的纳米颗粒尺寸较小。微粒递送荧光素染料模型货物的能力也在正常（HEK 293）细胞系中得到证实。总而言之，这些结果表明这些材料作为生物应用候选材料的潜在用途。