The efficient delivery of genes and proteins into primary mammalian cells and tissues has represented a formidable challenge. Recent advances in the research of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) offer much promise for their use as delivery platforms into mammalian cells. Ideally, CNT-mediated applications should not result in cellular toxicity nor perturb cellular homeostasis (e.g., result in non-specific activation of primary cells). It is therefore critical to evaluate the impact of CNT exposure on the cellular metabolism, proliferation and survival of primary mammalian cells. We investigated the compatibility of a recently developed CNT-mediated delivery method, termed nanospearing, with primary ex vivo cultures of B lymphocytes. Several parameters were evaluated to assess the impact of CNTs on naïve B lymphocytes, including cell survival, activation, proliferation and intracellular signal transduction. Our results indicate that nanospearing does not result in the activation of naïve primary B lymphocytes nor alter survival in ex vivo cultures. Herein, B cells exposed to CNTs were capable of responding to extrinsic pro-survival signals such as interleukin-4 and signaling by the B-cell antigen receptor in a manner similar to that of B cells cultured in the absence of CNTs. Our study demonstrates the biocompatibility of the CNT-mediated nanospearing procedure with respect to primary B lymphocytes.