Characterization and Cellular Internalization of Spherical Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNC) into Normal and Cancerous Fibroblasts

• Main Authors: Nur Aima Hafiza Shazali, Noorzaileen Eileena Zaidi, Hidayah Ariffin, Luqman Chuah Abdullah, Ferial Ghaemi, Jafri Malin Abdullah, Ichiro Takashima, Nik Mohd Afizan Nik Abd. Rahman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-10-01
• Series: Materials
• Subjects: fluorescently labelled; cellulose nanocrystals; preparation; cytotoxicity; internalization; shape; endocytosis
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/12/19/3251

The aim was to isolate cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) from commercialized oil palm empty fruit bunch cellulose nanofibre (CNF) through sulphuric acid hydrolysis and explore its safeness as a potential nanocarrier. Successful extraction of CNC was confirmed through a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and attenuated total reflection Fourier transmission infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectrometry analysis. For subsequent cellular uptake study, the spherical CNC was covalently tagged with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), resulting in negative charged FITC-CNC nanospheres with a dispersity (Ð) of 0.371. MTT assay revealed low degree cytotoxicity for both CNC and FITC-CNC against C6 rat glioma and NIH3T3 normal fibroblasts up to 50 µg/mL. FITC conjugation had no contribution to the particle’s toxicity. Through confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM), synthesized FITC-CNC manifested negligible cellular accumulation, indicating a poor non-selective adsorptive endocytosis into studied cells. Overall, an untargeted CNC-based nanosphere with less cytotoxicity that posed poor selectivity against normal and cancerous cells was successfully synthesized. It can be considered safe and suitable to be developed into targeted nanocarrier.