Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) are new materials of emerging technological importance. As SWCNT are introduced into the life cycle of commercial products, their effects on human health and environment should be addressed. We demonstrated that pharyngeal aspiration of SWCNT elicited unusual pulmonary effects in C57BL/6 mice that combined a robust but acute inflammation with early onset yet progressive fibrosis and granulomas. A dose-dependent increase in the protein, LDH, and gamma-glutamyl transferase activities in bronchoalveolar lavage were found along with accumulation of 4-hydroxynonenal (oxidative biomarker) and depletion of glutathione in lungs. An early neutrophils accumulation (day 1), followed by lymphocyte (day 3) and macrophage (day 7) influx, was accompanied by early elevation of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-1beta; day 1) followed by fibrogenic transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 (peaked on day 7). A rapid progressive fibrosis found in mice exhibited two distinct morphologies: 1) SWCNT-induced granulomas mainly associated with hypertrophied epithelial cells surrounding SWCNT aggregates and 2) diffuse interstitial fibrosis and alveolar wall thickening likely associated with dispersed SWCNT. In vitro exposure of murine RAW 264.7 macrophages to SWCNT triggered TGF-beta1 production similarly to zymosan but generated less TNF-alpha and IL-1beta. SWCNT did not cause superoxide or NO.production, active SWCNT engulfment, or apoptosis in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Functional respiratory deficiencies and decreased bacterial clearance (Listeria monocytogenes) were found in mice treated with SWCNT. Equal doses of ultrafine carbon black particles or fine crystalline silica (SiO2) did not induce granulomas or alveolar wall thickening and caused a significantly weaker pulmonary inflammation and damage.

A large number of data on mobility and mass have been newly obtained or reanalyzed for clusters of a diversity of materials, with the aim of determining the relation between electrical mobility (Z) and mass diameter d m = (6m/πρ) 1/3 (m is the particle mass and ρ the bulk density of the material forming the cluster) for nanoparticles with d m ranging from 1 nm to 6.5 nm. The clusters were generated by electrospraying solutions of ionic liquids, tetra-alkyl ammonium salts, cyclodextrin, bradykinin, etc., in acetonitrile, ethanol, water, or formamide. Their electrical mobilities Z in air were measured directly by a differential mobility analyzer (DMA) of high resolution. Their masses m were determined either directly via mass spectrometry, or assigned indirectly by first distinguishing singly (z = 1) and doubly (z = 2) charged clusters, and then identifying monomers, dimers, . . . n-mers, etc., from their ordering in the mobility spectrum. Provided that d m > 1.3 nm, data of the form d m vs. [z(1+m g /m) 1/2 /Z)] 1/2 fall in a single curve for nanodrops of ionic liquids (ILs) for which ρ is known (m g is the mass of the molecules of suspending gas). Using an effective particle diameter d p = d m + d g and a gas molecule diameter d g = 0.300 nm, this curve is also in excellent agreement with the Stokes-Millikan law for spheres. Particles of solid materials fit similarly well the same Stokes-Millikan law when their (unknown) bulk density is assigned appropriately.

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