Borrelli I
Istituto di Medicina del Lavoro, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia A. Gemelli, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Roma.
G Ital Med Lav Ergon. 2007 Jul-Sep;29(3 Suppl):851-2.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a man-made form of carbon, they exist in many different forms and can be chemically modified and/or functionalized with biomolecules. Pristine single-walled CNTs (SWNT) are extremely hydrophobic tubes of hexagonic carbon (graphene) with diameters as small as 0.4 nm and lengths up to micrometers. Multiwalled CNTs (MWCNT) consist of several concentric grapheme tubes and diameters of up to 100 nm. Due to their unique chemical, physical, optical, and magnetic properties, carbon nanotubes have found many uses in industrial products and in the field of nanotechnology, including in nanomedicine. From the rapidly emerging applications of CNTs arise the urgent need for toxicological studies on CNTs. Exposure to CNTs is associated with effect on DNA, pulmonary toxicity, fibrotic lesions, skin toxicity. Very interesting data are collected in a study in which CNTs were seen to connect multiple cells together. Of greatest interest was the discovery of unique intercellular carbon structures composed of SWCNT that bridged lung macrophages. These "carbon bridges" offer a novel and easily identifiable biomarker of exposure. This review brings together toxicological studies that have been carried out using carbon nanotubes, to offer a summary of the state-of-the-art in the development of carbon nanotubes toxicology.
碳纳米管（CNTs）是一种人造碳形式，它们以多种不同形态存在，并且可以用生物分子进行化学修饰和/或功能化。原始的单壁碳纳米管（SWNT）是由六边形碳（石墨烯）构成的极疏水的管子，直径小至0.4纳米，长度可达微米级。多壁碳纳米管（MWCNT）由几个同心的石墨烯管组成，直径可达100纳米。由于其独特的化学、物理、光学和磁性特性，碳纳米管在工业产品和纳米技术领域有许多用途，包括纳米医学。随着碳纳米管迅速涌现的应用，迫切需要对其进行毒理学研究。接触碳纳米管与对DNA的影响、肺部毒性、纤维化病变、皮肤毒性有关。在一项研究中收集到了非常有趣的数据，该研究发现碳纳米管能将多个细胞连接在一起。最令人感兴趣的是发现了由单壁碳纳米管构成的独特细胞间碳结构，这些结构连接着肺巨噬细胞。这些“碳桥”提供了一种新颖且易于识别的接触生物标志物。这篇综述汇集了使用碳纳米管进行的毒理学研究，以总结碳纳米管毒理学发展的最新状况。
