Dispersion medium plays important role in nanomaterial safety evaluation

ENVR 58

Huan Meng, menghuan.bj@gmail.com, Zhen Chen, chenzhen@ihep.ac.cn, Gengmei Xing, xinggm@ihep.ac.cn, Hui Yuan, yuanh@ihep.ac.cn, Feng Zhao, zhaof@ihep.ac.cn, Chengcheng Zhang, linda_zcc@hotmail.com, and Yuliang Zhao, zhaoyuliang@ihep.ac.cn. Lab for Bio-Environmental Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O.X. 918, Yuquan Road 19B, Beijing, P.R.China, Beijing, 100049, China
To maximize the validity and reproductivity of the data in nanotoxicology study, methodologically, it is necessary to guarantee the chemical form and nano-characteristic (e.g., size, nano-surface, etc.) of nanoparticle before safety evaluation of nanomaterial. In this paper, dispersion mediums used for toxicological study (in vitro) of nano-copper were systematically optimized. We found that the dispersion medium directly influences the toxicity of nanomaterial in vitro, the nano-copper appears to be more toxic in HPMC-suspended medium versus saline-suspended medium. Some factors, such as viscosity, zeta potential, pH value, inertness of suspending agent, stability of nanoparticle (e.g., chemical form, size, surface, etc.), should be considered as the criteria in suspending agent selection. It is reasonable to suppose that the data reflect the toxicological behavior of aggregation (microsized) but not the separated particles themselves (nanosized) if we only treat nanomaterial as traditional bulk substance.