Disaster - College of Veterinary Medicine - Texas A&M University

Research
Spotlight
From drug delivery systems to cosmetics, the science of
nanotechnology has a wide range of applications. This science
is based on the unusual properties that materials exhibit when
their dimensions are reduced to the nanoscale, that is, to less
than 100 nanometers (which is 1000 times smaller than the width
of a human hair). For example, while inert at normal scales,
gold nanoparticles are catalytically active and are being used to
improve the performance of fuel cells. Further, unlike its bulk
form, zinc oxide nanoparticles have better UV blocking properties,
making them ideal for use in sunscreens.
While the unique properties of nanoparticles are being
exploited to generate a range of products, questions about the
potential toxicity of these particles have not been adequately
addressed. For example, how do nanoparticles incorporated
into food matrices to increase longevity and freshness affect the
immune system? How does inhaling an aerosolized mixture of
nanoparticles affect the lungs?
Such questions are the focus of Dr. Christie Sayes’ research
at the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine &
Biomedical Sciences. Sayes, an assistant professor in the department
of Veterinary Physiology & Pharmacology, and her research
group are at the forefront of a relatively new and rapidly developing
field—nanotoxicology.
Toxicity studies
The toxic effects of nanoparticles are attributed to their
various physicochemical properties, for example, size, surface
reactivity, optical and electronic properties, agglomeration state
and composition.
“Studies in my laboratory and in the labs I was trained in, as
well as the experiences of our collaborators all over the world
[have indicated] that nanoparticle exposure results in inflammatory
responses [for example, through the generation of reactive
oxygen species],” Sayes said.
“We’ve seen membrane oxidation,
protein oxidation and even
DNA oxidation.”
In a previous study, Sayes
showed that at high concentrations,
nanoscale titanium
dioxide particles, which are
used in solar cells, for example,
disrupted the normal activity of
human dermal fibroblasts and
human lung epithelial cells in
culture through oxidative dam-
Top image: A human skin cell
exposed to green quantum dots,
which preferentially associate with
the cell’s mitochondria.
Bottom Image: A human skin cell
exposed to green quantum dots
encapsulated in polymer
microcapsules. The red stain shows
the healthy morphology of the cell
by highlighting the cytoplasm.
14 • CVM Today • Summer 2010
Nanotoxicology:
Exposing hidden dangers
by Roma Subramanian
age. Further, she has
shown that depending
on their surface
reactivity, nanoquartz
particles intratracheally
instilled
in rats produced
different degrees of
pulmonary inflammation
and cytotoxicity.
These and other
studies conducted
by her lab on the
biological effects of
different types of
nanoparticles have
(From left to right) Michael Berg,
helped provide evi-
Aishwarya Sooresh, Dr. Christie Sayes,
dence for nanopar- Nivedita Banerjee, and Amelia Romoser
make up the research team studying
ticle toxicity.
nanoparticles.
Currently, Sayes’
lab is investigating the mechanisms underlying nanoparticleinduced
inflammatory cascades and adverse immune responses.
“Some of the cells in the body look at nanoparticles as antigens,
and it’s the [resulting] increase in antibody production
that’s really interesting,” Sayes said. “We know that antibodies
are recruited, but do antibodies know to bind to nanoparticles to
get rid of them? Can macrophages [cells involved in the body’s
defense response] see nanoparticles and if not, will the particles
persist in our body, or will we able to excrete them out?”
The lab is also investigating the effect of a nanoparticle’s agglomeration
state on cytotoxicity. Although nanocrystals, which
can be in the form of a powder, tend to agglomerate in water,
this agglomeration is not irreversible.
“As nanoparticles move from one compartment of the body to
another, they could de- and then reagglomerate,” Sayes said. “For
example, when an agglomeration of nanoparticles gets immersed
in lung surfactant fluid [secreted by lung alveolar cells], you
sometimes immediately see a deagglomeration of particles, that
is, the particles separate from each other.”
Since cells appear to treat individual nanoparticles differently
from the way they treat nanoparticle agglomerates, Sayes is interested
in investigating the differential cellular uptake mechanisms
of individual versus aggregated nanoparticles.
Also, in collaboration with Swansea University, UK, Sayes’
lab is investigating the toxicological effects of nanoparticles in
composited materials. The project will examine whether in a car
crash involving car bumpers made of nanomaterial composites,
the nanoparticles embedded in the composited material are
released and if so, whether they retain their physical and chemical
characteristics and what would be the implications for the
environment or human health.
Challenges
“The dose makes the poison,” is an oft repeated maxim in toxicology.
However, the absence of a standardized unit to express