Nanotubes seen inside living animals

HOUSTON, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have captured the first optical images of carbon nanotubes inside a living organism.

Rice University researchers developed the near-infrared fluorescent imaging technology that detected DNA-sized nanotubes inside living fruit flies.

"Carbon nanotubes are much smaller than living cells and they give off fluorescent light in a way that researchers hope to harness to detect diseases earlier than currently possible," said study co-author Professor Bruce Weisman. "In order to do that, we need to learn how to detect and monitor nanotubes inside living tissues, and we must also determine whether they pose any hazards to organisms."

Although researchers have studied carbon nanotubes interacting with tissues of rabbits, mice and other animals, Weisman and Professor Kathleen Beckingham chose the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to attempt the first detection of nanotubes inside a living animal.

The research is reported in journal Nano Letters.