Toxicological Effects of Metal Nanomaterials - Safety of Nanomaterials along Their Lifecycle - page 189

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Toxicological Effects of
Metal Nanomaterials

Rainer Ossig, Daniela Hahn, Martin Wiemann,
Marc D. Driessen, Andrea Haase,
Andreas Luch, Antje Vennemann, Elke Dopp,
Marlies Nern, and Jürgen Schnekenburger

CONTENTS
9.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 191
9.2 Effects of Metal Nanomaterials on Cultured Human Cells ......................... 193
9.2.1 Oxidative Stress/Cell Viability/Inflammation .................................. 193
9.2.2 Genotoxicity...................................................................................... 198
9.3 Effects of Metal Nanomaterials on Alveolar Macrophages .........................200
9.4 In Vivo Toxicity of Metal Nanomaterials ..................................................... 201
9.4.1 In Vivo Studies in Non-Mammalian Animal Models ....................... 202
9.4.1.1 In Vivo Studies in Mammals .............................................. 202
9.4.2 Effects of Metal Nanoparticles on Humans ..................................... 205
9.5 Summary and Conclusion .............................................................................206
References .............................................................................................................. 207

9.1 INTRODUCTION
Metallic nanoparticles are used in a variety of industrial applications and consumer
products. Although metallic nanoparticles represent only a small group among the
plethora of engineered nanomaterials, they display by far the greatest number of
applied nanomaterials in consumer products which have been introduced into the
market, primarily because of their antimicrobial, electrical, optical, and/or magnetic
properties. This chapter will focus on engineered metal nanomaterials with wide-
spread application in many industrial fields, in particular, nanosized silver, gold,
copper, and platinum. Biological effects induced by these nanomaterials in vitro
and in vivo will be discussed with special reference to their unique physicochemical
properties. In addition, we will describe important findings from the German proj-
ect nanoGEM, in which different variants of well-characterized silver nanoparticles
were analyzed for their biological effects using multiple test systems.
Among the metals, the most frequently employed nanomaterial is nanosilver
(see Woodrow Wilson database of nanotechnology-based products http://www.
nanotechproject.org/cpi/products/). Silver acts as an effective antibacterial agent and

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