Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
J Appl Toxicol. 2010 Nov;30(8):730-44. doi: 10.1002/jat.1609.
Nanotechnology is expected to be promising in many fields of medical applications, mainly in cancer treatment. While a large number of very attractive exploitations open up for the clinics, regulatory agencies are very careful in admitting new nanomaterials for human use because of their potential toxicity. The very active research on new nanomaterials that are potentially useful in medicine has not been counterbalanced by an adequate knowledge of their pharmacokinetics and toxicity. The different nanocarriers used to transport and release the active molecules to the target tissues should be treated as additives, with potential side effects of themselves or by virtue of their dissolution or aggregation inside the body. Only recently has a systematic classification of nanomaterials been proposed, posing the basis for dedicated modeling at the nanoscale level. The use of in silico methods, such as nano-QSAR and PSAR, while highly desirable to expedite and rationalize the following stages of toxicological research, are not an alternative, but an introduction to mandatory experimental work.
纳米技术有望在许多医学应用领域具有广阔的前景，主要应用于癌症治疗。尽管为临床提供了大量非常有吸引力的应用，监管机构在承认新的纳米材料用于人体时非常谨慎，因为它们可能具有毒性。由于对其药代动力学和毒性的了解不足，因此，对于新的、在医学上具有潜在用途的纳米材料的研究非常活跃，但并没有得到相应的知识积累。用于将活性分子递送到靶组织的不同纳米载体应被视为添加剂，它们本身可能具有副作用，或者由于其在体内溶解或聚集而具有副作用。直到最近，才提出了一种纳米材料的系统分类，为纳米尺度的专门建模奠定了基础。虽然使用计算机模拟方法（如纳米定量构效关系和预测性毒理学分析）非常有助于加快和合理化毒理学研究的后续阶段，但这些方法不是替代方法，而是强制性实验工作的引入。
