ssDNA functionalized nanodiamonds for uranium decorporation

The hunt for agents that are suitable for actinide decorporation to reduce the whole-body load of actinide in accidental internal exposure is the ever-lasting goal in radiation protection and medical treatment in nuclear emergency. All current decorporation agents can be categorized as two groups, one is the molecular ligands, and the other is the nanoparticles decorated with molecular ligands. Here in this work, functional nanodiamonds (fNDs) with ssDNA (the endogenous biomacromolecule rich in phosphate groups) loaded on the NDs is reported, which poses good uranyl adsorption selectivity, high cellular uptake, fast excretion, and effective decorporation of uranyl from rat renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (NRK-52E). All those results corroborate that fNDs can potentially serve as a brand new family of chelators for actinide decorporation.