Abstract
Nanomaterials are now being used in a wide variety of biomedical applications. Medical and health-related issues, however, have raised major concerns, in view of the potential risks of these materials against tissue, cells, and/or organs and these are still poorly understood. These particles are able to interact with the body in countless ways, and they can cause unexpected and hazardous toxicities, especially at cellular levels. Therefore, undertaking in vitro and in vivo experiments is vital to establish their toxicity with natural tissues. In this review, we discuss the underlying mechanisms of nanotoxicity and provide an overview on in vitro characterizations and cytotoxicity assays, as well as in vivo studies that emphasize blood circulation and the in vivo fate of nanomaterials. Our focus is on understanding the role that the physicochemical properties of nanomaterials play in determining their toxicity.
Highlights
During the last 20 years, a significant growth in nanomaterial research has occurred, based on their numerous applications in medicine, photonics, and electronics [1,2,3,4,5]
Oxidative stress is an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant mechanisms [7] that can be explained as an increase in the generation of ROS or a decrease in antioxidants
Xu et al reported that the cellular uptake of coumarin-6 (C6) in 4T1 mammary tumor cells delivered via shrapnel NPs significantly increases with the use of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-9) [78]
Summary
During the last 20 years, a significant growth in nanomaterial research has occurred, based on their numerous applications in medicine, photonics, and electronics [1,2,3,4,5]. Toxicity research is important in order to fully understand the basic interaction of nanomaterials with natural tissues, because nanotechnology has a significant impact in the consumer and biomedical realms. One must understand the exact role of nanomaterials in vivo. NPs may aggregate in various organs and interact with off-target cells. They may degrade and be eliminated from the body due to their very small size [6]. There are, only a few studies examining whether nanomaterials are bio-compatible with natural organs, tissues, or cells. We discuss the in vivo role of nanomaterials, including routes of administration, biodistribution, metabolism, routes of clearance, as well as blood biocompatability.
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