Fishing to Design Inherently Safer Nanoparticles - Zebrafish: Methods for Assessing Drug Safety and Toxicity - page 282

20.6 EMBRYONIC ZEBRAFISH DATA TO DESIGN
“SAFER” NANOPARTICLES
The embryonic zebrafish model offers advantages for testing the exponentially
increasing number of nanoparticles in development and already in the marketplace.
However, the data obtained in this model or any model will be of little value unless a
database repository of experimental data and conclusions is available. Such a
knowledge base, the Nanomaterial-Biological Interactions (NBI) created at Oregon
State University, is now in use as a clearinghouse for information gathered from all
three-tier levels of testing (http://nbi.oregonstate.edu). We believe that a searchable
platform such as NBI will allow for a better connection between the manufacturer of
these nanoparticles and the researchers that determine the biological response
potential for each nanoparticle. This will in turn facilitate industrial/regulatory
cooperation toward safer nanoparticles.
The NBI is not restricted to the zebrafishmodel. Data obtained from other in vitro
or in vivo models are encouraged. A greater wealth of structure-activity relationships,
characterized in a diversity of models, will only facilitate better nanoparticle
chemistry. A database of structure-activity relationships that is readily available to
manufacturers is an invaluable resourcewhere R&D budget constraints may not allow
for extensive in-house safety testing of promising nanochemistries. A comprehensive
knowledge database of structure-activity relationships in high-throughput models,
including the embryonic zebrafish, will enable tuning of nanoparticles to maximize
performance and safety before they reach commercial production. Nanochemistries
in need of tuning can be placed into the safer nanoparticle design flow (Fig. 20.2): a
continuum of criteria for safer design. The NBI will also limit the blind duplication
Figure 20.2 Using biological interactions of engineered nanoparticles to understand design rules for
nanoparticles with enhanced biological properties. (See the color version of this figure in Color Plates
section.)