how can nanoparticles in a liquid media affect the lungs and respiration by inhalation? can they be harmful that way or such injury is caused only by the nanoparticles in the air? please advise ...I need to check the safety factors
A NP suspension can of course be swallowed up, but even then a massive inhalation of NP seems unlikely. If the NP suspension is boiling, squirted or sprayed into the air an aerosol may form, consisting of liquid drops containing NP AND probably also dry NP. The latter if the liquid has time enough to evaporate from the particles. The process is time dependent and influenced strongly by the vapor pressure of the liquid. The size distribution of the aerosol decides about how deep the particles are inhaled and deposited in the respiratory tract or the lung.So that may be a time dependent process.
An aerosol is a suspension of particles, droplets or solid, in a gas. Thus if the liquid is aerosolized it can be inhaled and the particles deposited in the lung. The site of deposition would depend upon size and other characteristics, however, the nanoparticles will agglomerate upon release from an aerosolized liquid and could present to the lung particles that are sub micron to micron in size. As a result the initial deposition could be in one or more regions of the lung. Time dependency is an issue for inhalation based upon the change in size caused by inhalation in a moist environment (the lung), but it will be more important for life time in the lung, slow or fast clearance or translocation.
Nanoparticles that are inhaled in an aerosol or that are aspirated in a liquid suspension can cause lung injury. Both methods are used in the study of the toxic effects of nanoparticles. Here's an example:
Inhalation vs. aspiration of single-walled carbon nanotubes in C57BL/6 mice: inflammation, fibrosis, oxidative stress, and mutagenesis.
Shvedova AA, Kisin E, Murray AR, Johnson VJ, Gorelik O, Arepalli S, Hubbs AF, Mercer RR, Keohavong P, Sussman N, Jin J, Yin J, Stone S, Chen BT, Deye G, Maynard A, Castranova V, Baron PA, Kagan VE.
Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2008 Oct;295(4):L552-65. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.90287.2008. Epub 2008 Jul 25.
PMID:
18658273
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