Safety Evaluation Study of Nanomaterials Aimed at Promoting Their Acceptance by Society

[摘要] References(50)Cited-By(1)Currently, nanomaterials (NMs) with particle sizes below 100 nm have been successfully employed in various industrial applications in medicine, cosmetics and foods. On the other hand, NMs can also be problematic in terms of eliciting harmful effects as a result of their small size. However, biological and/or cellular responses to NMs are often inconsistent and even contradictory. In addition, relationships among the physicochemical properties, localization and biological responses of NMs are not yet well understood. In order to open new frontiers in the use of the safer NMs in the fields of medicine, cosmetics and foods, it is necessary to understand the detailed properties of NMs so that their safety can be predicted. In this review, we present some of our studies examining the cellular localization and cytotoxicity, including genotoxic effects of well-dispersed amorphous silica particles of diameters ranging from 70 nm to 1000 nm. Our results suggest that “well-dispersed” amorphous nanosilica of particle size 70 nm (nSP70) enters the nucleus and exhibits mutagenic activity related in ROS generation in vitro. Our data indicate that further studies of the relation between the physicochemical properties of, and the biological responses to NMs are needed to ensure the safety of these materials, and to promote their acceptance by society.

[学科分类] 分子生物学，细胞生物学和基因

[关键词] nanosilicas;genotoxicity;reactive oxygen species generation