Predicting how nanoparticles will react in the body

A group of scientists at North Carolina State University have me a bit puzzled. Apparently they’ve developed a method of predicting how nanoparticles might behave in the human body (the paper is titled, An index for characterization of nanomaterials in biological systems, available online as of Aug. 15, 2010 at Nature Nanotechnology [Note: There’s a paywall.]).

I’ll start with what the scientists are saying (from the news item on physorg.com),

NC State researchers Dr. Jim Riviere, Burroughs Wellcome Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology and director of the university’s Center for Chemical Toxicology Research and Pharmacokinetics, Dr. Nancy Monteiro-Riviere, professor of investigative dermatology and toxicology, and Dr. Xin-Rui Xia, research assistant professor of pharmacology, wanted to create a method for the biological characterization of nanoparticles – a screening tool that would allow other scientists to see how various nanoparticles might react when inside the body.

“We wanted to find a good, biologically relevant way to determine how nanomaterials react with cells,” Riviere says. “When a nanomaterial enters the human body, it immediately binds to various proteins and amino acids. The molecules a particle binds with will determine where it will go.”

This binding process also affects the particle’s behavior inside the body. According to Monteiro-Riviere, the amino acids and proteins that coat a nanoparticle change its shape and surface properties, potentially enhancing or reducing characteristics like toxicity or, in medical applications, the particle’s ability to deliver drugs to targeted cells.

What I find somewhat disconcerting is the unspoken assumption that the scientists understand how various biological systems within the human body work. Knowledge on this topic, as far as I know, is still quite imperfect. For example, broken bones don’t always heal properly; people die unexpectedly from procedures that have been practiced for decades; the common cold is still a mystery, etc.

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