Tiny, engineered nanomaterials can already be found in many consumer products,
and have been hailed as having widespread future uses in areas ranging from
medicine to industrial processes. However, little is known about what happens
if these nanomaterials get into your body - where do they go? NC
State researchers are working to answer that question under a grant from
the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
"There has been a great deal of research into the use of manufactured
carbon nanomaterials in various products, but there are still a lot of questions
about how these materials will interact with biological systems," says
Dr. Nancy Monteiro-Riviere, a professor of investigative dermatology and toxicology
at the Center for Chemical Toxicology Research and Pharmacokinetics at NC State
and lead investigator of the study. "There is a crucial need to understand
how these manufactured carbon nanomaterials will act once they are in the body
- particularly where environmental or occupational exposure can occur."
The two-year research project, which is being funded by NIH at approximately
$658,000, has several specific goals. First, the researchers will determine
how and whether the size and surface charge of four fullerenes - or specifically
shaped carbon nanoparticles - effects how the fullerenes interact with the body.
"Our hypothesis is that the size and charge of these fullerenes will dictate
how the nanoparticles are absorbed by the body, how they are distributed within
the body, how the body metabolizes the nanoparticles and - ultimately - how
and whether the body can eliminate the nanoparticles," says Monteiro-Riviere.
A second goal is to determine how fullerene size and surface charge affect
the distribution of the nanoparticles in the body's organs and plasma, when
the fullerenes are injected intravenously. This component of the study will
be performed in animal models that are well understood, and where the findings
can then be extrapolated to humans. Researchers will also identify any adverse
health effects resulting from acute exposure to the nanomaterials.
Finally, the researchers will assess how the body absorbs fullerenes when exposed
to the nanomaterials orally or through abraded skin - two routes of exposure
that are particularly relevant to real-world scenarios, such as exposure in
the workplace.
"The work being done in this project will not only improve our understanding
of how nanomaterials behave in the body, but will also help us identify in vitro
assays, which can be performed in a laboratory, that predict how the nanomaterials
will behave in the body," says Monteiro-Riviere.
Posted November 2nd, 2009
