Nanoparticle Toxicology: Measurements of Pulmonary Hazard Effects Following Exposures to Nanoparticles
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Health risks following exposures to nanoparticle types are dependent upon two primary factors, namely, hazard and exposure potential. This chapter describes a pulmonary bioassay methodology for assessing the hazardous effects of nanoparticulates in rats following intratracheal instillation exposures; these pulmonary exposures are utilized as surrogates for the more physiologically relevant inhalation route of exposure. The fundamental features of this pulmonary bioassay are dose–response evaluations and time-course assessments to determine the sustainability of any observed effect. Thus, the major endpoints of this assay are the following: (1) time course and dose–response intensity of pulmonary inflammation and cytotoxicity, (2) airway and lung parenchymal cell proliferation, and (3) histopathological evaluation of lung tissue. This assay can be performed using particles in the fine (pigmentary) or ultrafine (nano) size regimes.
In this assay, rats are exposed to selected concentrations of particle solutions or suspensions and lung effects are evaluated at 24 h, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months postinstillation exposure. Cells and fluids from groups of particle-exposed animals and control animals are recovered by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and evaluated for inflammatory and cytotoxic endpoints. This protocol also describes the lung tissue preparation and histopathological analysis of the lung tissue of particle-instilled rats. This assay demonstrates that instillation exposures of particles produce effects similar to those previously measured in inhalation studies of the same particulates.
