Research Strategies for Safety Evaluation of Nanomaterials, Part I: Evaluating the Human Health Implications of Exposure to Nanoscale Materials

Abstract

Nanotechnology has the potential to dramatically improve the effectiveness of a number of existing consumer and industrial products and could have a substantial impact on the development of new products ranging from disease diagnosis and treatment to environmental remediation. The broad range of possible nanotechnology applications could lead to substantive changes in industrial productivity, economic growth, and international trade. A continuing evaluation of the human health implications of exposure to nanoscale materials will be essential before the commercial benefits of these materials can be fully realized. The purpose of this article is to review the human health implications of exposure to nanoscale materials in the context of a toxicological risk evaluation, the current scope of U.S. Federal research on nanoscale materials, and selected toxicological studies associated with nanoscale materials to note emerging research in this area.

Earthworm Sublethal Responses to Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterial in Soil Detected by 1H NMR Metabolomics

“…1,2 These smaller particles meet the definition of manufactured nanoparticles, described as any synthetic material with one or more dimension less than 100 nm. 3 Although TiO 2 particles with diameter >100 nm are considered toxicologically inert, 1 it has been suggested that the greater relative surface area of nanosized particles may cause them to be more biologically active and increase their toxicity. 4 TiO 2 nanomaterials that enter the environment during their production, use, or disposal may be deposited in soil or accumulate in sewage treatment plant sludge that may subsequently be applied to soil.…”

Cytotoxicity and DNA Damage Induced by Magnetic Nanoparticle Silica in L5178Y Cell

“…As smaller size nanoparticles increase reactivity in cells (Thomas and Sayre, 2005) and even more, nanoparticles can bind to DNA or amino acid (Nel et al, 2006), it seems that they are often much more reactive than their bulk material As recent reports suggest that nanoparticles may penetrate into cell membrane and effect DNA condition, it is necessary to assay possible cytotoxic and genotoxic risk. Three different sizes of magnetic nanoparticle silica (MNP@SiO 2 ) (50, 100 and 200 nm diameter) were tested for cytotoxicity and DNA damage using L5178Y cell.…”

C60 affects DNA replication in vitro by decreasing the melting temperature of DNA templates

“…And its biological activities including antiviral, antioxidant, and chemotactic activities have also been tested on various fullerene-based compounds [1][2][3][4]. In recent years, some publications and reports have raised the health and safety concerns about the production and application of nanoparticles, especially in areas of exposure monitoring, personal use, environmental fate, and transport [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Although early studies showed low toxicity of the C 60 molecule itself [12], some recent studies found that C 60 is toxic to the biological systems.…”