Nanomaterials and nanoparticles: Sources and toxicity

TL;DR

This review discusses the sources, biological impacts, and health risks of nanoparticles, emphasizing their ability to penetrate biological structures and cause various diseases, highlighting the need for better understanding and regulation.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of nanoparticle sources, toxicity mechanisms, health effects, and the importance of regulation, with insights into future research directions.

Findings

Nanoparticles can penetrate cells and disrupt their functions.

Exposure to nanoparticles is linked to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

Individual factors influence nanoparticle toxicity effects.

Abstract

This review is written with the goal of informing public health concerns related to nanoscience, while raising awareness of nanomaterials toxicity among scientists and manufacturers handling them. We show that humans have always been exposed to nanoparticles and dust from natural sources and human activities, the recent development of industry and combustion-based engine transportation profoundly increasing anthropogenic nanoparticulate pollution. The key to understanding the toxicity of nanoparticles is that their minute size, smaller than cells and cellular organelles, allows them to penetrate these basic biological structures, disrupting their normal function. Among diseases associated with nanoparticles are asthma, bronchitis, lung cancer, neurodegenerative diseases (such as Parkinson`s and Alzheimer`s diseases), Crohn`s disease, colon cancer. Nanoparticles that enter the circulatory system are related to occurrence of arteriosclerosis, and blood clots, arrhythmia, heart diseases, and ultimately cardiac death. We show that possible 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, and agglomeration state. The faster we will understand their causes and mechanisms, the more likely we are to find cures for diseases associated with nanoparticle exposure. We foresee a future with better-informed, and hopefully more cautious manipulation of engineered nanomaterials, as well as the development of laws and policies for safely managing all aspects of nanomaterial manufacturing, industrial and commercial use, and recycling.