Cellular and organismal toxicity of nanoparticles and its associated health concerns

Abstract

The demand for nanotechnology in biomedical science is escalating rapidly as novel nanomaterials help in rebuilding the life of patients suffering from serious health conditions. Nanomaterials are widely used for biomedical applications such as drug delivery carriers, diagnostic agents, image-contrasting agents, tissue engineering, targeted cancer therapy, and so on. However, due to poor understanding of mechanisms at the nanoscale, nature had to deal with the negative face of the nanotechnology broadly called as nanotoxicity. Nanotoxicology is therefore the study of the toxicity of nanomaterials at the cellular, organism, and environmental levels. Variety of nanoparticles (NPs) prepared from sources like metals, semiconductors, polymers, and lipids behave differently in cells due to the difference in their surface functionality, size and shape anisotropy, charge and dispersity in polar or nonpolar solvents, etc. Therefore, since the last decade, the scientific community has shown keen interest to understand the NPs toxicity at different biological levels of the organization. Cellular toxicity is mainly due to the intervention of NPs in cellular processes leading to oxidative stress, altered signaling, proliferation, and death pathways. Nanotoxicity in organism level causes defects in physiological functioning, behavior, and reproduction. Herein, this chapter enlightens various effects of commonly used NPs at cellular level as well as in organisms that may have implications linked to serious abnormal conditions such as cancer, diabetes, neurodisorders, cardiovascular, and hepatotoxicity.