Nanotoxicology studies the potentially toxic effects of particles with a diameter of less than 100 nanometers. The high surface area to volume ratio of these particles makes them highly reactive and able to penetrate cell membranes. Size, shape, and reactivity are important factors in determining toxicity, as well as the transport of particles throughout the body. Accumulation of particles over time or damage to cells can lead to disease. The goal of nanotoxicology is to develop effective defenses against these particles.
Nanotoxicology is a subfield of toxicology concerned with the study of potentially toxic effects of nanoscale particles, or particles with a diameter of less than 100 nanometers – for scale, 1 nanometer equals 10-6 millimeters. In general, the toxic properties of nanoscale particles result from the fact that such particles have a very high surface area to volume ratio. This high surface area to volume ratio makes the particles, which are often small enough to penetrate cell membranes, highly reactive with many different chemicals and tissues. Some chemical reactions involving nanoscale particles can have deleterious effects within the body. The field of nanotoxicology is concerned with classifying the conditions that lead to toxic effects and devising ways to prevent and treat them.
A major concern of the field of nanotoxicology is determining which properties of specific nanoscale particles lead to toxic effects. Size is a major factor influencing toxicity, as smaller particles are able to penetrate tissues and cells and are, therefore, able to affect areas that larger particles cannot. The shape and reactivity of a given particle are also very important to nanotoxicology, as these factors determine, to some extent, the effect that nanoscale particles have on the surrounding tissue. Different particles can also have a variety of effects on different types of tissue, so external conditions must be considered when analyzing the toxicology of any given particle.
Another area of importance in the field of nanotoxicology is the transport of nanoscale particles throughout the body. These particles are so small that they can be absorbed by almost any part of the body. Once they have access to the body, they tend not to be limited to the immediate area of absorption. They are small enough to enter the bloodstream and travel to many different organs throughout the body, including the brain and kidneys. Elucidating how a given nanoscale particle can enter and travel through the body is a key goal in the field of nanotoxicology.
Several processes involving nanoscale particles can lead to potentially toxic effects. A small number of such particles, for example, may have no noticeable effect, but if many more accumulate over time, disease could result. This is a significant risk due to the ease with which such small particles can enter the body. Alternatively, the highly reactive particles may be capable of causing damage to cells even without accumulating in large quantities. Nanotoxicology researchers hope to determine precisely how nanoscale particles harm organisms in order to develop an effective defense against them.
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