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Content archived on 2024-05-29

Nano-particle characterization and toxicity

Final Activity Report Summary - NANOTOX (Nano-Particle Characterization and Toxicity)

During the fellowship period, the Fellow worked with several researchers on projects aimed to determine the toxicity of nano-particles and to what extent the observed responses may be related to particle-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS). Particle-generated ROS may be one of the major mechanisms controlling the development of diseases' caused by inhalation of low-solubility particles.

The Fellow worked on:
1) the development of ROS detection methods and their application in systems with and without cells;
2) studies to determine whether sample preparation techniques affected the ROS-levels in toxicological studies;
3) the applicability of different ROS detection techniques for different particles; and
4) collaboration with several other researchers in the characterisation of particle-induced ROS formation.

It was found that radical detection and quantification is a challenging area and ROS measurements must be performed and used with great care. Testing three ROS probes and their response to three particle types using different particle doses showed different applicable ranges of use. This work is submitted for publication. In other work, a comparison of particle-generation of ROS with mutation frequency resulted in two publications with the Fellow as co-author.

Additionally, the Fellow worked on a project to compare ROS generation and in vivo toxicity of dusts collected from a bio-fuel plant. Finally, a study on the in vitro toxicity of different types of TiO2 and their relationship with several physicochemical parameters is currently being finalized with participation of the Fellow.