Chapter 11 - Nanomaterial Toxicity: A Challenge to End Users

Abstract

Nanotechnology is broadly regarded as one of the most significant sources of new technology over recent decades, exhibiting enormous potential to benefit various areas of research and emerging as a new plateau of possibility with impacts on a broad range of industries and end-users. Today, it is one of the most promising tools in the fields of biomedicine, materials science, electronics, energy production, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Many studies have explored the effects of nanomaterials on human health and the environment. Nanomaterials, due to their small size, enter into the cell's nucleus and blood-brain barrier easily and traverse the body's organs via interactions with proteins and other biological components, evoking inflammatory and toxic immune responses. An hour is needed to understand and quantify how in vitro studies support human studies, because at nanoscale the properties and behavior of materials will be different from their bulk counterparts. There should be new FDA approved international guidelines to access toxicological data of nanomaterials in in vitro and in vivo models, and only then will it work out as the translational approach. In our review, we will try to educate the layman about the advantages and disadvantages of using nanomaterials and discuss the biophysiochemical behavior and properties of the nanomaterials present in the environment and currently employed in various biotechnological applications, as well as their method of toxicity evaluation.