MRC/University of Edinburgh Centre for Inflammation Research, ELEGI Colt Laboratory, Queen's Medical Research Institute, 47 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh, EH16 4TJ, UK.
Nanomedicine (Lond). 2011 Jan;6(1):143-56. doi: 10.2217/nnm.10.139.
High aspect ratio, or fiber-shaped, nanoparticles (HARNs) represent a growth area in nanotechnology as their useful properties become more apparent. Carbon nanotubes, the best known and studied of the HARNs are handled on an increasingly large scale, with subsequent potential for human inhalation exposure. Their resemblance to asbestos fibers precipitated fears that they might show the same type of pathology as that caused by asbestos and there is emerging evidence to support this possibility. The large number of other HARNs, including nanorods, nanowires and other nanofibers, require similar toxicological scrutiny. In this article we describe the unusual hazard associated with fibers, with special reference to asbestos, and address the features of fibers that dictate their pathogenicity as developed in the fiber pathogenicity paradigm. This paradigm is a robust structure:toxicity model that identifies thin, long, biopersistent fibers as the effective dose for fiber-type pathogenic effects. It is likely that HARNs will in general conform to the paradigm and such an understanding of the features that make fibers pathogenic should enable us to design safer HARNs.
高长径比或纤维状纳米粒子（HARNs）代表了纳米技术的一个增长领域，因为它们的有用特性变得越来越明显。碳纳米管是 HARNs 中最著名和研究最多的一种，其处理规模正在逐渐扩大，随后可能会有人体吸入暴露的风险。它们与石棉纤维的相似之处引发了人们的担忧，即它们可能表现出与石棉相同类型的病理学，而这方面的证据也在不断涌现。大量的其他 HARNs，包括纳米棒、纳米线和其他纳米纤维，需要进行类似的毒理学研究。在本文中，我们描述了与纤维相关的特殊危害，特别参考了石棉，并讨论了决定纤维致病性的特征，这些特征是在纤维致病性范例中发展起来的。该范例是一个强大的结构：毒性模型，它将细而长、持久存在的纤维确定为纤维型致病效应的有效剂量。一般来说，HARNs 可能会符合这一范例，对使纤维具有致病性的特征的理解应该使我们能够设计出更安全的 HARNs。
