Researchers in West Virginia and Japan are reporting an advance toward a blood
test that could help protect consumers from new products containing potentially
harmful kinds of nanotubes. These ultra small wisps of carbon - 1/5,000th the
width a single human hair - may become the basis for multibillion-dollar medical,
consumer electronics, and other industries in the future. Their report is appeared
in the Jan. 14 issue of ACS'
Nano Letters, a monthly journal.
Petia Simeonova and colleagues cite hints from past studies that nanotubes
are toxic to the lungs of laboratory animals. Those findings emphasized the
need for tests to check on the toxicity before products containing these particles
hit the market.
In the new research, scientists deposited nanotubes in the lung of lab mice,
and discovered the existence of a “cross-talk” mechanism, in which
the animals' lungs alerted the rest of the body to the nanotubes presence.
The alert caused specific genes in the animals to kick into action and produce
certain proteins. The resulting biochemical signature of nanotube exposure could
become a biomarker for exposure to harmful nanoparticles, the researchers say.
Posted February 4th, 2009
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