Exploring the genotoxic potential of nanoparticles using amorphous silica nanoparticles

Nanomaterials, generally defined as materials with at least one dimension smaller than 100 nm, have become of great interest for industrial and biomedical applications in the last years. With this increased interest, concerns have been raised about their potential adverse health effects. Several reports have indicated that these "new" materials induce effects different from their micrometer-size counterparts. Therefore the need for hazard assessment and risk characterisation has become evident.
The main objective of this study was to assess the genotoxic potential of nanoparticles and explore their modes of action. With this aim, insoluble amorphous silica nanoparticles (SNPs) were chosen, as a model material because amorphous silica is regarded as an inert material. Furthermore SNPs are relatively easily tunable which allowed us to test particles with different physico-chemical properties (e.g. size). In addition the SNPs used in this thesis were synthesized as monodisperse suspensions of non-aggregated particles, allowing the assessment of the effects of nano-size particles, rather than aggregates of particles.

ISBN:978-90-72325-03-7

Jaar van publicatie:2012

Trefwoorden:silica nanoparticles, genotoxicity