ABSTRACT
Understanding and predicting the fate and behavior of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) as they interact with living systems has become an international research priority during recent years, as researchers and regulators struggle to ensure the safe and responsible implementation of nanotechnologies in a wide variety of applications from information technology to construction to medicine. The key features of nanomaterials that make them attractive for a range of applications include their small size and their consequent large surface area-to-volume ratio and high surface energy, which can be exploited for a range of effects, such as catalysis or drug transport and delivery. However, there are persistent concerns that this increased reactivity could lead to toxicity (Abbott et al. 2006; Borm et al. 2006), via, for example, the well-established oxidative stress paradigm (Nel et al. 2006), in parallel with long-standing research into respirable air pollution particles (PM10). Epidemiological studies have repeatedly found a positive correlation between the level of particulate air pollution and increased morbidity and mortality rates in both adults and children. Such studies have also identied a link between respiratory ill health and the number of ambient ultrane particles (Stone et al. 2007).
