Research Institute of Science for Safety and Sustainability, National Institute of Advanced Science and Technology-AIST, 16-1 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8569, Japan.
Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2011 Dec;61(3):276-81. doi: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2011.08.007. Epub 2011 Aug 27.
The present paper summarizes the results of our studies on dermal and eye irritation and skin sensitization due to carbon nanotubes (CNTs), whose potential applications and uses are wide and varied, including CNT-enhanced plastics, electromagnetic interference/radio-frequency (EMI/RFI) shielding, antistatic material, flexible fibers and advanced polymers, medical and health applications, and scanning probe microscopy. Skin and eyes have the highest risk of exposure to nanomaterials, because deposition of nanomaterials to the surficial organs has the potential to be a major route of exposure during the manufacturing, use, and disposal of nanomaterials. Two products composed of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and two products composed of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were tested regarding acute dermal and acute eye irritation using rabbits, and skin sensitization using guinea pigs. The concentrations of the CNTs in the substances were the maximum allowable for administration. The two products of SWCNTs and one of the products of MWCNTs were not irritants to the skin or eyes. The other product of MWCNTs caused very slight erythema at 24h, but not at 72h, after patch removal in the dermal irritation experiments and conjunctival redness and blood vessel hyperemia at 1h, but not at 24h, in eye irritation experiments. These findings showed that one product of MWCNTs was a very weak acute irritant to the skin and eyes. No products of SWCNTs and MWCNTs exhibited skin-sensitization effects. Our knowledge of the toxicological effects of CNTs is still limited. Further information is needed to clarify the potential for irritation and sensitization given the complex nature of CNTs.
本文总结了我们关于碳纳米管（CNTs）引起的皮肤和眼睛刺激以及皮肤致敏的研究结果。CNTs 的潜在应用和用途广泛且多样化，包括 CNT 增强塑料、电磁干扰/射频（EMI/RFI）屏蔽、防静电材料、柔性纤维和先进聚合物、医疗保健应用以及扫描探针显微镜。皮肤和眼睛暴露于纳米材料的风险最高，因为纳米材料沉积到表面器官可能是在制造、使用和处置纳米材料期间暴露的主要途径。我们使用兔子测试了由单壁碳纳米管（SWCNT）组成的两种产品和由多壁碳纳米管（MWCNT）组成的两种产品，以评估其急性皮肤和急性眼睛刺激，并用豚鼠评估皮肤致敏。这些物质中 CNT 的浓度为允许的最高浓度。两种 SWCNT 产品和一种 MWCNT 产品对皮肤或眼睛均无刺激性。另一种 MWCNT 产品在皮肤刺激实验中，贴片去除后 24 小时出现轻微红斑，但 72 小时后无红斑，在眼睛刺激实验中，1 小时后出现结膜发红和血管充血，但 24 小时后无充血。这些发现表明，一种 MWCNT 产品对皮肤和眼睛具有非常轻微的急性刺激性。没有 SWCNT 和 MWCNT 产品表现出皮肤致敏作用。我们对 CNT 毒性作用的了解仍然有限。需要进一步的信息来阐明 CNT 引起刺激和致敏的潜力，因为 CNT 的性质复杂。
