Tada Yukie, Yano Norio, Takahashi Hiroshi, Yuzawa Katsuhiro, Ando Hiroshi, Kubo Yoshikazu, Nagasawa Akemichi, Ogata Akio, Nakae Dai
Departments of Environmental Health and Toxicology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health, 3-24-1 Hyakunin-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-0073, Japan.
J Toxicol Pathol. 2012 Dec;25(4):233-9. doi: 10.1293/tox.25.233. Epub 2012 Dec 20.
Iron nanomaterials are of considerable interest for application to nanotechnology-related fields including environmental catalysis, biomedical imaging, drug delivery and hyperthermia, because of their superparamagnetic characteristics and high catalytic abilities. However, information about potential risks of iron nanomaterials is limited. The present study assessed pulmonary responses to a single intratracheal spray instillation of triiron tetraoxide nanoparticles (magnetite) in rats. Ten-week-old male and female Fischer 344 rats (n=5/group) were exposed to a single intratracheal spray instillation of 0 (vehicle), 5.0, 15.0 or 45.0 mg/kg body weight (BW) of magnetite. After 14 days, the rats were sacrificed, and biological consequences were investigated. The lung weights of the 15.0 and 45.0 mg/kg BW male and female groups were significantly higher than those of the control groups. The lungs of treated rats showed enlargement and black patches originating from the color of magnetite. The typical histopathological changes in the lungs of the treated rats included infiltration of macrophages phagocytosing magnetite, inflammatory cell infiltration, granuloma formation and an increase of goblet cells in the bronchial epithelium. The results clearly show that instilled magnetite causes foreign body inflammatory and granulating lesions in the lung. These pulmonary responses occur in a dose-dependent manner in association with the increase in lung weight.
由于具有超顺磁性特征和高催化能力，铁纳米材料在包括环境催化、生物医学成像、药物递送和热疗等纳米技术相关领域具有相当大的应用价值。然而，关于铁纳米材料潜在风险的信息有限。本研究评估了大鼠经气管单次喷雾滴注四氧化三铁纳米颗粒（磁铁矿）后的肺部反应。将10周龄的雄性和雌性Fischer 344大鼠（每组n = 5）经气管单次喷雾滴注0（赋形剂）、5.0、15.0或45.0 mg/kg体重（BW）的磁铁矿。14天后，处死大鼠并研究生物学后果。15.0和45.0 mg/kg BW雄性和雌性组的肺重量显著高于对照组。处理组大鼠的肺显示肿大并有源自磁铁矿颜色的黑色斑块。处理组大鼠肺部典型的组织病理学变化包括吞噬磁铁矿的巨噬细胞浸润、炎性细胞浸润、肉芽肿形成以及支气管上皮杯状细胞增多。结果清楚地表明，滴注的磁铁矿会在肺部引起异物性炎症和肉芽病变。这些肺部反应与肺重量增加相关，呈剂量依赖性发生。
