Interdepartmental Research Center "E. Piaggio", University of Pisa , Pisa , Italy.
Nanotoxicology. 2014 Sep;8(6):697-708. doi: 10.3109/17435390.2013.831500. Epub 2013 Sep 3.
After passage through biological barriers, nanomaterials inevitably end up in contact with the vascular endothelium and can induce cardiovascular damage. In this study the toxicity and sub-lethal effects of six types of nanoparticle, including four of industrial and biomedical importance, on human endothelial cells were investigated using different in vitro assays. The results show that all the particles investigated induce some level of damage to the cells and that silver particles were most toxic, followed by titanium dioxide. Furthermore, endothelial cells were shown to be more susceptible when exposed to silver nanoparticles under flow conditions in a bioreactor. The study underlines that although simple in vitro tests are useful to screen compounds and to identify the type of effect induced on cells, they may not be sufficient to define safe exposure limits. Therefore, once initial toxicity screening has been conducted on nanomaterials, it is necessary to develop more physiologically relevant in vitro models to better understand how nanomaterials can impact on human health.
纳米材料穿过生物屏障后，不可避免地会与血管内皮接触，并可能导致心血管损伤。在这项研究中，使用不同的体外检测方法，研究了六种纳米材料（包括四种具有工业和生物医学重要性的纳米材料）对人内皮细胞的毒性和亚致死效应。结果表明，所有研究的颗粒都会对细胞造成一定程度的损伤，其中银颗粒毒性最大，其次是二氧化钛。此外，在生物反应器中，在流动条件下暴露于银纳米颗粒时，内皮细胞更容易受到损伤。该研究强调，尽管简单的体外测试对于筛选化合物和识别对细胞产生的效应类型很有用，但它们可能不足以确定安全暴露限值。因此，一旦对纳米材料进行了初步毒性筛选，就有必要开发更具生理相关性的体外模型，以更好地了解纳米材料如何影响人类健康。
