Engineered nanomaterials may exert adverse effects on human health which, in turn, may be linked to their propensity to cross biological barriers in the body. Here, available evidence is discussed, based on in vivo studies for interactions of commercially relevant nanoparticles with critical internal barriers. The internal barriers in focus in this review are the blood-brain barrier, protecting...

Significant cost and debilitation results from connective tissue injury and disease every year. Prolotherapy is an effective medical treatment used to increase joint stability. However, most associated studies are retrospective or case studies, rather than comprehensive laboratory investigation originating with the cellular response to exposure to the proliferant solutions. As a parallel consid...

Copper nanoparticles encapsulated by multi-layer graphene have been produced in large quantity (in grams) by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition at 600 C with copper(II) acetylacetonate powders as precursor. The obtained graphene/copper shell/core nanoparticles were found to be formed by a novel coalescence mechanism that is quite different from the well-known dissolution–precipitation mech...

Enhanced surface photooxidation property associated with the ZnS nanoparticles caused the reduction of dissolved oxygen content in water in a dose dependent manner, when ZnS nanoparticles of different sizes are exposed to the water in various concentrations. This property was more prominent for ZnS nanoparticles with smaller sizes. Mystus tengara, exposed to ZnS nanoparticles, responded to hypo...

Protection of metal nanoparticles from agglomeration is critical for their functions and applications. The conventional method for enhancing their stability is to cover them with passivation layers to prevent direct contact. However, the presence of a protective shell blocks exposure of the metal species to reactants, thereby significantly impeding the nanoparticles' utility as catalysts. Here,...

The brine shrimp, Artemia spp., is widely used in ecotoxicological research as a biological index. In the present study, aquatic stability and acute toxic effects of TiO2, CuO and ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) on Artemia franciscana were investigated. Acute exposure was conducted in sea water with different concentrations of selected nanoparticles at 24h, 48h, 72h and 96h. The mortality rate of A. fr...

Introduction As one of the most common nanomaterials, TiO2 nanoparticles have found their industrial and household applications in cosmetics, sunscreens, pharmacy, socks, paints and coatings, catalyst, even food and many other fields, which are expected to continue to grow in the next decade [1]. However, the release of TiO2 nanoparticles into the aquatic environment is inevitable during the pr...

The interaction of nanoscaled materials with biological systems is currently the focus of a fast-growing area of investigation. Though many nanoparticles interact with cells without acute toxic responses, amino-modified polystyrene nanoparticles are known to induce cell death. We have found that by lowering their dose, cell death remains low for several days while, interestingly, cell cycle pro...

Engineering of advanced hybrid composites wherein aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are integrated into polymer matrices of existing fibrous materials is growing in research labs around the world. Real concerns exist about possible exposures of researchers and laboratory personnel to CNTs, fibers (respirable and nanoscale) and nanoparticles during handling of nanomaterials, as well as during synt...

In this study we evaluated the effect of chitosan nanoparticles on the acid tolerance response (ATR) of adhered Streptococcus mutans. An ATR was induced by exposing S. mutans to pH 5.5 for 2 h and confirmed by exposing the acid-adapted cells to pH 3.5 for 30 min, with the majority of cells appearing viable according to the LIVE/DEAD® technique. However, when chitosan nanoparticles were present ...