Nanotoxicity: A New Discipline

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10 Oct 2005 14:11:46 -0000

Nanotoxicity: A New Discipline

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This article can be found on the I-SIS website at

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Nanotoxicity.php

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ISIS Press Release 10/10/05

 

Nanotoxicity: A New Discipline

***********************

 

Dr. Mae-Wan Ho

m.w.ho

 

A fully referenced version of this article is posted on ISIS

members' website

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/full/NanotoxicityFull.php.

Details here

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/membership.php

 

Nanoparticles – billionths of metre in dimensions - produced

by nanotechnology have unusual properties not found in the

bulk material, which can be exploited in numerous

applications such as biosensing, electronics, photovoltaics,

diagnostics and drug delivery. However, research within the

past few years has turned up a range of potential health

hazards, which has given birth to the new discipline of

nanotoxicity.

 

Researchers in the University of Texas in the United States

found that carbon nanotubes squirted into the trachea of

mice caused serious inflammation of the lungs and granulomas

(tumour-like nodules of bloated white blood cells in the

lining of the lungs), and five of the nine mice treated with

the higher dose died ( " Nanotubes highly toxic " , SiS 21

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/isisnews.php) [1, 2].

 

In a similar experiment carried out at the National

Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in Morgantown,

West Virginia, in the Unites States, researchers not only

found granulomas in the lungs, but also damage to

mitochondrial DNA in the heart and the aortic artery, and

substantial oxidative damage, both foreshadowing

atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) [3].

 

In yet another similar experiment in Tottori University,

Japan, researchers showed that within a minute of contacting

the mice's tiniest airways, carbon nanotubes began to burrow

through gaps between the surface lining cells and into the

blood capillaries, where the negatively charged

nanoparticles latched onto the normally positively charged

red blood cells surface, thereby potentially causing the red

blood cells to clump and the blood to clot [3].

 

Researchers from the University of Rochester, New York,

reported an increased susceptibility to clotting in rabbits

that had inhaled carbon nanospheres (buckyballs, an isotope

of carbon shaped like a tiny football) [3].

 

Buckballs present in water at 0.5 parts per million were

taken up by largemouth bass, which suffered severe brain

damage 48 hours later, the extent of damage being 17 times

greater than that seen in controls [4].

 

Nanoparticles in the lungs are translocated to the

circulatory system and from there throughout the body,

accumulating in the liver, spleen, and bone marrow [5].

 

Nanoparticles inhaled through the nose and air passages are

translocated to the brain through the olfactory nerves, and

accumulate in the brain [5].

 

Nanoparticles can enter the body through the skin; and

quantum dots injected into the skin accumulate in lymph

nodes with potential effects on the immune system [5].

 

Quantum dots consisting of a core of fluorescent cadmium

selenide, touted as a non-invasive way to image internal

body tissues, break down in the body, releasing cadmium, a

toxic heavy metal [6].

 

In August 2005, the International Council on Nanotechnology

(ICON) and Rice University's Center for Biological and

environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) launched an online

database of scientific findings related to the risks as well

as benefits of nanotechnology [7]

(http://icon.rice.edu/research.cfm). Searches using common

key words such as " quantum dots " and " nanospheres " gave zero

returns in September 2005, which shows it is far from

adequate and hence could well be misleading.

 

 

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This article can be found on the I-SIS website at

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Nanotoxicity.php

 

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