Toxicology of Nano Materials to Fish: A Fact Finding Pilot Study.

纳米颗粒是大小在1-100纳米之间的非常小的颗粒。纳米粒子在新材料、电气和热学设备以及在医疗器械、生物机器人和环境监测技术中的新应用中有着广泛的应用。纳米技术对人类的潜在好处是惊人的。然而，哺乳动物毒性研究显示，其中一些材料的不良影响令人担忧，例如纳米颗粒吞噬导致的呼吸道炎症。对野生动物的影响尚不清楚，在我们应该允许工业废水和其他可能含有纳米颗粒的废物受控排放到环境中之前，需要对这些影响进行一些评估。我们的建议是一项为期一年的先导性研究，以考察纳米颗粒对鱼类的可能影响。我们的目标是测量两种主要类型的纳米颗粒对FISH(I)碳纳米管(Ii)制造的二氧化钛纳米颗粒的短期和长期影响。测量将包括组织病理学、一系列健康指数以及对鱼类组织进行详细的毒理学和生物化学调查。这些信息对环境风险评估至关重要，也是管理新纳米技术带来的潜在污染问题的先决条件。

Nanoparticles are very small particles in the size range 1-100 nanometers. Nanoparticles have numerous applications in new materials, electrical and thermal devices, and new applications in medical instruments, biorobotics, and environmental monitoring technology. The potential benefits to mankind of nanotechnology is awesome. However, mammalian toxicity studies have revealed some concerns about adverse effects of some of these materials, such as inflammation of the airway due to inhilation of nanoparticles. The effects on wildlife are unknown, and some assessment of these effects are needed before we should allow the controlled discharge of industrial effluents, and other wastes that might contain nanoparticles, into the environment. Our proposal is a one year pilot study to look at possible effects of nanoparticles on fish. Our objectives are to measure the short and long term effects of two major types of nanoparticles to fish (i) carbon nanotubes (ii) manufactured titanium dioxide nanoparticles. Measurements will include histopathology, a range of health indices, and detailed toxicological and biochemical investigations of the fish tissues. This information is vital for environmental risk assessments, and a pre-requisite to managing potential pollution problems from new nanotechnologies.