Those working with products that use silica-based nanoparticles (chip makers
those working with drug delivery or medical diagnostics) may be interested to read
the paper out this week looking at increased cardiovascular risk and silicon dioxide
NP exposure. Published in Environmental Toxicology the showed NP exposure was linked to pro-atherogenic effects (in vitro study/macrophages). They measured LDH release (cytotoxicity), increased
oxidative stress and triglyceride accumulation. The original research paper can
be found (paywalled) here
and an article about this article can be found here.
A study has been published demonstrating how pulmonary immunization (inhaled vaccination)
may be more effective when protein-loaded nanoparticles are synthesized with a
positive surface charge. This study published by PNAS and accessible
here (paywalled) shows how the positively charged NP induced antibody responses
following pulmonary administration, whereas negatively charged nanoparticles did
not.
The mystery surrounding why grephene oxide (GO) were
highly stable in water has been solved! Just a case of contamination during preparation of GO. This is a nice article entitled’ Freshmen-levelchemistry solves the solubility mystery of graphene oxide films ‘ from
physics.org.