Study shows how carbon nanotubes can affect lining of the lungs
October 25, 2009
Inhaled carbon nanotubes accumulate within cells at the pleural lining of the lung as visualized by light microscopy.
(PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon nanotubes are being considered for use in everything from sports equipment to medical applications, but a great deal remains unknown about whether these materials cause respiratory or other health problems. Now a collaborative study from North Carolina State University, The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences shows that inhaling these nanotubes can affect the outer lining of the lung, though the effects of long-term exposure remain unclear.
Using mice in an animal model study, the researchers set out to determine what happens when multi-walled carbon nanotubes are inhaled. Specifically, researchers wanted to determine whether the nanotubes would be able to reach the pleura, which is the tissue that lines the outside of the lungs and is affected by exposure to certain types of asbestos fibers which cause the cancer mesothelioma. The researchers used inhalation exposure and found that inhaled nanotubes do reach the pleura and cause health effects.
Short-term studies described in the paper do not allow conclusions about long-term responses such as cancer. However, the inhaled nanotubes "clearly reach the target tissue for mesothelioma and cause a unique pathologic reaction on the surface of the pleura, and caused fibrosis," says Dr. James Bonner, associate professor of environmental and molecular toxicology at NC State and senior author of the study. The "unique reaction" began within one day of inhalation of the nanotubes, when clusters of immune cells (lymphocytes and monocytes) began collecting on the surface of the pleura. Localized fibrosis, or scarring on parts of the pleural surface that is also found with asbestos exposure, began two weeks after inhalation.
The study showed the immune response and fibrosis disappeared within three months of exposure. However, this study used only a single exposure to the nanotubes. "It remains unclear whether the pleura could recover from chronic, or repeated, exposures," Bonner says. "More work needs to be done in that area and it is completely unknown at this point whether inhaled carbon nanotubes will prove to be carcinogenic in the lungs or in the pleural lining."
The mice received a single inhalation exposure of six hours as part of the study, and the effects on the pleura were only evident at the highest dose used by the researchers - 30 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3). The researchers found no health effects in the mice exposed to the lower dose of one mg/m3.
More information: The study, "Inhaled Carbon Nanotubes Reach the Sub-Pleural Tissue in Mice," the study is published in the Oct. 25 issue of Nature Nanotechnology
-
Carbon nanotubes that look like asbestos, behave like asbestos
May 20, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Nanotubes trigger biochemical 'cross talk' for consumer protection tests
Feb 05, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Clemson researchers develop nanotechnology
Oct 03, 2006 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Nanotube risk assessment
Sep 18, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Modification Turns Ultra-Short Nanotubes into Molecule-Like Drug Capsules
Oct 23, 2006 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Protease cleavage
2 hours ago
-
Pertubance in a model
8 hours ago
-
Cancer drugs and Alzheimer's, Oh my!
16 hours ago
-
Squishing cells
17 hours ago
-
Any books/articles for evolutionary stable strategy models in humans?
Feb 09, 2012
-
Science behind the bore feeling?
Feb 09, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - Biology
More news stories
What lies beneath: Mapping hidden nanostructures
The ability to diagnose and predict the properties of materials is vital, particularly in the expanding field of nanotechnology. Electron and atom-probe microscopy can categorize atoms in thin sheets of material, ...
6 hours ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
1
'Dark plasmons' transmit energy
Microscopic channels of gold nanoparticles have the ability to transmit electromagnetic energy that starts as light and propagates via "dark plasmons," according to researchers at Rice University.
23 hours ago |
5 / 5 (6) |
1
|
New kind of solar cell could capture significantly more energy than current cells
New solar cells could increase the maximum efficiency of solar panels by over 25%, according to scientists from the University of Cambridge.
Feb 08, 2012 |
4.5 / 5 (12) |
14
|
Nanoshell whispering galleries improve thin solar panels
Visitors to Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building may have experienced a curious acoustic feature that allows a person to whisper softly at one side of the cavernous, half-domed room and for another on ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Feb 07, 2012 |
4.3 / 5 (6) |
6
|
Nanotube therapy takes aim at breast cancer stem cells
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers have again proven that injecting multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into tumors and heating them with a quick, 30-second laser treatment can kill them.
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Feb 09, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
|
Complex wiring of the nervous system may rely on a just a handful of genes and proteins
Researchers at the Salk Institute have discovered a startling feature of early brain development that helps to explain how complex neuron wiring patterns are programmed using just a handful of critical genes. ...
CIA website offline, Anonymous takes credit
The website of the Central Intelligence Agency was unresponsive on Friday after the hacker group Anonymous claimed to have knocked it offline.
Q&A: Obama and the birth control controversy
(AP) -- What birth control debate? A half-century after the introduction of the pill, acceptance of birth control by American women is virtually universal.
The power of estrogen -- male snakes attract other males
A new study has shown that boosting the estrogen levels of male garter snakes causes them to secrete the same pheromones that females use to attract suitors, and turned the males into just about the sexiest ...
New error-correcting codes guarantee the fastest possible rate of data transmission
Error-correcting codes are one of the triumphs of the digital age. Theyre a way of encoding information so that it can be transmitted across a communication channel such as an optical fiber o ...
Humans may have helped the decline of African rainforests 3000 years ago
(PhysOrg.com) -- Large areas of rainforests in Central Africa mysteriously disappeared over three thousand years ago, to be replaced by savannas. The prevailing theory has been that the cause was a change ...
Oct 28, 2009
Rank: not rated yet