INTRODUCTION TO NANOTOXICOLOGY

1. RIJU CHANDRAN.R
INTRODUCTION TO
NANOTOXICOLOGY

2. Small is beautiful……
DANGERS COME IN SMALL PARTICLES

3. Nanotoxicology is a branch of Bionanoscience
which deals with the study and application of
toxicity of nanomaterials.
Nanotoxicological studies are intended to
determine at what extent their properties may
pose a threat to the environment and to the
human beings.

4.  The size of a particle decreases,its surface area
increases and also allows a greater properties of
its atoms or molecules to be displayed on the
surface rather than the interior of the material.
 The change in the physico-chemical and
structural properties of engineered
nanomaterials with a decrease in size would be
responsible for a number of material interactions
that could lead to toxicological effects.

5. The toxicity of nanomaterials were broadly
classified into two :-
 BIOLOGICAL TOXICITY
 ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICITY

6.  Biological Toxicity:
 Nanostructures can enter the body via six
principle routes :- Intravenous, Dermal,
Subcutaneous, Inhalation, Intraperitoneal & Oral
 The entered nanostructure can distribute to
various organs in the body and may remain the
same structurally,be modified, or metabolized.
 They enter the cells of the organ and residue in
the cells for an unknown amount of time before
leaving to move to other organs or to be
excreted.

7.  The toxic effects are :-
 Allergy
 Fibrosis
 Deposition in different organs(lead to organ
failure)
 Inflammation
 Cytotoxicity
 Tissue damage
 ROS generation
 DNA damage

9.  Environmental Toxicity
 During the outburst of nanomaterial research
there pumps lot of nanoparticles to the
environment.
 Nanoparticle pollution, by deposition of
nanoparticle in groundwater & soil.
 Process that control transport & removal of
nanoparticles in water and waste water are yet
to be investigated.
 Studies on the effect of nanoparticles on plants
and microbes are also rare.

10.  NANOMATERIAL EXPOSURE :-
 Occupational Exposure –
Person involved in nanomaterial manufacturing
and research, with the increasing demand of
nanomaterials in market the exposure of
workers making these materials and using
nanoparticles in the manufacturing plant is also
increasing
 Consumer Exposure –
Engineered nanoparticles are used in personal
care products, ranging from cosmetics to
sunscreens, where decreasing the size active
ingredients yields & better performance.

11.  Environmental Exposure –
The engineered nanomaterial applications
develop as projected, the increasing
concentrations of nanomaterials in groundwater
and soil may present the most significant
exposure avenues for assessing environmental
risk.

12.  REASONS FOR TOXICITY :-
 Surface area to volume ratio of the particles which
increases their interaction with the surrounding
molecules.
 Chemical composition of the particle which is
responsible for its reactivity.
 Surface charge of the particle is responsible for
electrostatic interactions.
 Complementarity of nanostructure could cause
inhibition of enzyme activity either competitive or
non competitive.

13.  Accumulation of an inert particle in the body
could also trigger tissue formation around the
foreign entity and thus leading to formation of a
scar tissue.