Pharmacokinetics and toxicity of inorganic nanoparticles and the physicochemical properties/factors affecting them

Abstract

Nowadays, inorganic nanoparticles have been widely incorporated into broad disciplines such as medicinal, chemical, and electronical ones. Their special characteristics and distinct design provide tremendous potential to be employed in several applications. This emerging popularity makes these modern nanomaterials extensively existing around us, almost impossible to avoid. A question regarding their safety/toxicity assessment has been arisen due to their widespread use and increasing exposure. To clarify this uncertainty, this review summarizes the current knowledge and the recent findings regarding toxicity effects of inorganic nanoparticles that are most discussed in literature and appeared to be common to all of them, and investigates the important mechanisms behind their toxicity which are not totally revealed yet. It also highlights the main factors/parameters affecting toxicity which are strongly based on their physicochemical properties and declares the necessity for unified methods and further exploration in the future to build safer nano-based drug delivery systems. Additionally, this review will present an overview of pharmacokinetics of inorganic nanoparticles which have a huge impact on their toxicity therefore should be investigated in more detail. This investigation will help to provide a comprehensive profile and will contribute to optimizing NPs design ensuring safety and presenting minimal toxicity.