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Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) have been growing in notoriety in the development of systems aiming bioapplications. In this work we conducted an investigation about the mechanisms involved in the incorporation of samarium and gadolinium in BNNTs. The process was performed by the reduction of samarium and gadolinium oxides (Sm 2 O 3 and Gd 2 O 3 , respectively) in the presence of NH 3 gas (witch decomposes into N 2 and H 2 ) at high temperatures. Various characterization techniques were conducted to elucidate how Sm and Gd are introduced into the BNNT structure. Biological in vitro assays were performed with human fibroblasts and a human osteosarcoma cell line (SAOS-2). Our results show that the studied systems have high potential for biomedical application and can be used as non-invasive imaging agents, such as scintigraphy radiotracers or as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast medium, being able to promote the treatment of many types of tumors simultaneously to their diagnosis., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests, financial, scientific or otherwise in the publication of this article., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)