Institut of Experimental Morphology, Pathology and Anthropology with Museum, Department of Pathology, Sofia 1113, Bulgaria.
Curr Cancer Drug Targets. 2011 Feb;11(2):164-83. doi: 10.2174/156800911794328484.
This review presents some common features of nanoparticles - activity, toxicity and biological activity. Humans are exposed to tiny particles via dust storms, volcanic ash, and other natural processes and the body systems are well adapted to protect from these potentially harmful intruders. Technological advancement has also changed the character of particulate pollution, increasing the proportion of nanometer-sized particles - "nanoparticles" and expanding the variety of chemical compositions. Studies have shown a strong correlation between particulate air pollution levels, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, various cancers, and mortality. Adverse effects of nanoparticles on human health depend on individual factors such as genetics and existing disease, as well as exposure, and nanoparticle chemistry, size, shape, agglomeration state, and electromagnetic properties. The key to understand the toxicity of nanoparticles is their size, smaller than cells and cellular organelles, which allows them to penetrate these basic biological structures, disrupting their normal function. Examples of toxic effects include tissue inflammation, and altered cellular redox balance toward oxidation, causing abnormal function or cell death. Some of these materials have desirable characteristics for industrial applications, as nanostructured materials often exhibit beneficial properties, from UV absorbance in sunscreen to oil-less lubrication of motors. In the sense of the huge surrounding positive and negative influence of known and unknown NP-impacts it seems very important to understand and forecast the processes in the body, due to the interaction between these two sides - organism. How nanoparticles can be used as drug delivery systems and imaging devices to increase the efficacy per dose of therapeutic or imaging contrast agents; how nanoparticles will be further developed to improve their functionality in cancer treatment and imaging? How reacts the immune system of the organism after introducing nanoparticles with the aim to defeat tumors? Here the aim was to discuss the right and wrong applications of NP and to answer to some of these questions. In the mean time there will appear much more investigations because of the important application of the NP not only as drug delivery systems, but as diagnostics as well.
这篇综述介绍了纳米粒子的一些共同特征——活性、毒性和生物活性。人类通过沙尘暴、火山灰和其他自然过程暴露于微小颗粒中，而身体系统很好地适应了保护免受这些潜在有害入侵者的侵害。技术进步也改变了颗粒物污染的性质，增加了纳米尺寸颗粒的比例——“纳米粒子”，并扩大了化学成分的种类。研究表明，颗粒物空气污染水平与呼吸和心血管疾病、各种癌症和死亡率之间存在很强的相关性。纳米粒子对人类健康的不良影响取决于个体因素，如遗传和现有疾病，以及暴露和纳米粒子化学、大小、形状、团聚状态和电磁特性。了解纳米粒子毒性的关键是其尺寸，小于细胞和细胞细胞器，这使得它们能够穿透这些基本的生物结构，扰乱它们的正常功能。毒性作用的例子包括组织炎症和细胞氧化还原平衡向氧化的改变，导致异常功能或细胞死亡。这些材料中的一些具有工业应用的理想特性，因为纳米结构材料通常表现出有益的特性，从防晒霜中的紫外线吸收到电机的无油润滑。从已知和未知 NP 影响的巨大周围正负影响来看，了解和预测体内的过程似乎非常重要，因为这两个方面——生物体之间存在相互作用。纳米粒子如何作为药物输送系统和成像设备，增加治疗或成像对比剂的每剂量疗效；纳米粒子将如何进一步发展，以提高其在癌症治疗和成像中的功能？引入纳米粒子后，生物体的免疫系统会如何反应，目的是战胜肿瘤？这里的目的是讨论 NP 的正确和错误应用，并回答其中的一些问题。与此同时，由于 NP 的重要应用不仅作为药物输送系统，而且作为诊断工具，将会出现更多的研究。
