Dietary Exposure to Nanoparticles in Fish: A Pilot Study.

纳米颗粒是尺寸范围为1-100纳米的非常小的颗粒。纳米颗粒在新材料、电气和热设备中有许多应用，在医疗仪器、生物机器人和环境监测技术中有新的应用。纳米技术对人类的潜在好处是令人敬畏的。然而，哺乳动物的毒性，以及我们实验室最近对鱼类的一些研究，引起了人们对其中一些材料的不良影响的关注。这些问题包括通过肠道接触和吸收纳米颗粒，但对纳米颗粒对野生动物的影响或特别是饮食毒性（食物链效应）的风险知之甚少。我们的建议是一个为期一年的试点研究，看看可能的饮食毒性的纳米粒子对鱼类。我们的目标是测量鱼对两种主要类型的纳米颗粒（i）碳纳米管（ii）制造的二氧化钛纳米颗粒的4周饮食暴露的反应。测量将包括组织病理学，一系列健康指数，以及鱼类组织的详细毒理学和生化研究，特别是肠道功能。这些信息对于环境风险评估至关重要，也是管理新纳米技术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, and some recent work on fish in our laboratory, have rasied concerns about adverse effects of some of these materials. These concerns include exposure and uptake of nanoparticles via the gut, but little is known about the effects of nanoparticles on wildlife or the risks of dietary toxicity (food chain effects) in particular. Our proposal is a one year pilot study to look at the possible dietary toxicity of nanoparticles on fish. Our objectives are to measure the responses of the fish to a 4-week dietary exposure to two major types of nanoparticles (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, and especially gut function. This information is vital for environmental risk assessments, and a pre-requisite to managing potential pollution problems from new nanotechnologies.