Broadband near-field scanning microwave microscopy investigation of fullerene exposure of breast cancer cells

Fullerene C60 is a nanoparticle being actively investigated for possible applications in biology and medicine since, owing to its lipophilicity, it should be able to be incorporated in or to permeate across a cellular membrane. Once exposing cells to such nanoparticles, the problem becomes how to assess the actual presence of fullerene in cells. Here we used a home-made broadband near-field scanning microwave microscope, in both time and frequency domains, and a commercial scanning capacitance microscope to investigate the ability of fullerene to permeate MCF-7 breast cancer cells. We found that, while the electromagnetic properties of the cell membrane are changed by fullerene exposure, surface roughness is a more reliable indicator of fullerene exposure.