ABSTRACT
Material scientists have produced several organic and inorganic nanostructures with potential application to medicine such as specifi c drug delivery into tumours or tissue reconstruction following degenerative disorders of the neuronal tissue. Among these nanostructures, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been studied since the beginning of the last decade as possible substrate for neuronal growth (Mattson et al. 2000), or to improve neuronal electrical signalling while supporting dendrite elongation and cell adhesion (Lovat et al. 2005; Ni et al. 2005; Cellot et al. 2009). One of the next chapters will fully describe the employment of carbon nanotubes to improve neuronal performance (Carbon nanotubes and neuronal performance by Prof. L. Ballerini).
