Impalefection
Encyclopedia
Gene delivery
Gene delivery is the process of introducing foreign DNA into host cells. Gene delivery is, for example, one of the steps necessary for gene therapy and the genetic modification of crops. There are many different methods of gene delivery developed for a various types of cells and tissues, from...
using nanomaterials, such as carbon nanofiber
Carbon nanofiber
Carbon nanofibers , vapor grown carbon fibers , or vapor grown carbon nanofibers are cylindric nanostructures with graphene layers arranged as stacked cones, cups or plates...
s, carbon nanotube
Carbon nanotube
Carbon nanotubes are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure. Nanotubes have been constructed with length-to-diameter ratio of up to 132,000,000:1, significantly larger than for any other material...
s, nanowire
Nanowire
A nanowire is a nanostructure, with the diameter of the order of a nanometer . Alternatively, nanowires can be defined as structures that have a thickness or diameter constrained to tens of nanometers or less and an unconstrained length. At these scales, quantum mechanical effects are important —...
s Ref.1. Needle-like nanostructures are synthesized perpendicular to the surface of a substrate. Plasmid DNA containing the gene, intended for intracellular delivery, is attached to the nanostructure surface. A chip with arrays of these needles is then pressed against cells or tissue. Cells that are impaled by nanostructures can express the delivered gene(s).
As one of the types of transfection
Transfection
Transfection is the process of deliberately introducing nucleic acids into cells. The term is used notably for non-viral methods in eukaryotic cells...
, the term is derived from two words - impalement
Impalement
Impalement is the traumatic penetration of an organism by an elongated foreign object such as a stake, pole, or spear, and this usually implies complete perforation of the central mass of the impaled body...
and infection
Infection
An infection is the colonization of a host organism by parasite species. Infecting parasites seek to use the host's resources to reproduce, often resulting in disease...
.
Applications
One of the features of impalefection is spatially resolved gene deliveryGene delivery
Gene delivery is the process of introducing foreign DNA into host cells. Gene delivery is, for example, one of the steps necessary for gene therapy and the genetic modification of crops. There are many different methods of gene delivery developed for a various types of cells and tissues, from...
that holds potential for such tissue engineering
Tissue engineering
Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions...
approaches in wound healing
Wound healing
Wound healing, or cicatrisation, is an intricate process in which the skin repairs itself after injury. In normal skin, the epidermis and dermis exists in a steady-state equilibrium, forming a protective barrier against the external environment...
as gene activated matrix
Gene activated matrix
In gene-activated matrix technology , cytokines and growth factors could be delivered not as recomninant proteins but as plasmid genes . GAM is one of the tissue engineering approaches to wound healing...
technology Ref2.
Carrier materials
Vertically aligned carbon nanofiberCarbon nanofiber
Carbon nanofibers , vapor grown carbon fibers , or vapor grown carbon nanofibers are cylindric nanostructures with graphene layers arranged as stacked cones, cups or plates...
arrays prepared by photolithography and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition are one of the suitable types of material. Silicon nanowires is another choice of nanoneedle
Nanoneedle
Nanoneedles may be conical or tubular needles in the nanometre size range, made from silicon or boron-nitride with a central bore of sufficient size to allow the passage of large molecules, or solid needles useful in Raman spectroscopy, light emitting diodes and laser diodes.The conical needles...
s that have been utilized for impalefection (Ref)
