Nanomaterials (NMs)
have been increasingly used in a number of
areas, including consumer products and nanomedicine. Target tissue
dosimetry is important in the evaluation of safety, efficacy, and
potential toxicity of NMs. Current evaluation of NM efficacy and safety
involves the time-consuming collection of pharmacokinetic and toxicity
data in animals and is usually completed one material at a time. This
traditional approach no longer meets the demand of the explosive growth
of NM-based products. There is an emerging need to develop methods
that can help design safe and effective NMs in an efficient manner.
In this review article, we critically evaluate existing studies on
in vivo pharmacokinetic properties, in vitro cellular uptake and release
and kinetic modeling, and whole-body physiologically based pharmacokinetic
(PBPK) modeling studies of different NMs. Methods on how to simulate
in vitro cellular uptake and release kinetics and how to extrapolate
cellular and tissue dosimetry of NMs from in vitro to in vivo via
PBPK modeling are discussed. We also share our perspectives on the
current challenges and future directions of in vivo pharmacokinetic
studies, in vitro cellular uptake and kinetic modeling, and whole-body
PBPK modeling studies for NMs. Finally, we propose a nanomaterial
in vitro to in vivo extrapolation via physiologically based pharmacokinetic
modeling (Nano−IVIVE−PBPK) framework for high-throughput
screening of target cellular and tissue dosimetry as well as potential
toxicity of different NMs in order to meet the demand of efficient
evaluation of the safety, efficacy, and potential toxicity of a rapidly
increasing number of NM-based products.