Magnetic carbon nanotubes camouflaged with cell membrane as a drug discovery platform for selective extraction of bioactive compounds from natural products

The biomimetic functionalization of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are promising for its application in solid phase extraction because they can overcome current limitations of covalent functionalization and obtain desired specific recognition ability. The present study aimed to develop a novel dual functionalization CNTs modified with magnetic nanoparticles and high α_1A-adrenergic receptor (α_1A-AR) expression HEK 293 cell membrane. On the basis of the specific interactions between drugs and receptors on cell membrane, high α_1A-AR expression cell membrane camouflaged magnetic CNTs (CMMCNTs) were employed as a drug discovery platform to screen potential α_1A-AR antagonists from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The resultant CMMCNTs had a right-side-out membrane and desired magnetic property, enabling to rapidly target and separate the bioactive compounds from complex samples. Furthermore, the CMMCNTs possessed high adsorption capacity, fast binding kinetics, and satisfactory selectivity. As a result, two bioactive compounds as lappaconitine and benzoylmesaconine were screened and identified in the actual application. Moreover, the lappaconitine was validated to have favorable antagonism to α_1A-AR through preliminary pharmacological assays. Hence, this successful application of CMMCNTs showed significant advantages in drug discovery so as to drive the development of TCM. More importantly, the cell membrane biomimetic modification could be widely used to improve the performance of CNTs in various applications.