ABSTRACT
CNTs have been at the forefront of nanotechnology due to their unique electrical, mechanical and thermal features, which allow the development of a variety of miniaturized devices with remarkable properties (Krishnan et al. 1998). More recently, CNTs have attracted tremendous attention for the development of nano-bio hybrid systems able to govern cell-specifi c behaviours in cultured neuronal networks (Mattson et al. 2000; Hu et al. 2004; Lovat et al. 2005; Ni et al. 2005; Galvan-Garcia et al. 2007; Cellot et al. 2009). Among the emerging applications of nanotechnology to neuroscience, of particular interest is the development of artifi cial nanomaterials, such as CNTs and nanofi bres, as next generation-scaffolds for nerve tissue engineering (Gilmore et al. 2008), or the use of CNTs for longterm implants and neural interfaces (Keefer et al. 2008; Kotov et al. 2009). Alternatively, CNT soluble preparations have been proposed to exploit the fabrication of molecular sensing, diagnostics, or drug delivery devices (Pantarotto et al. 2004).
