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Projects
European project QLRT-2002-147: toxicity of nano-particles
The European project QLRT-2002-147 availed itself of studies regarding
electronic microscopy in the environmental scanning. It has been achieved in an
innovative and original way, which has made possible to verify how pathological
tissues affected by cryptogenic diseases of oncologic or inflammatory nature,
contain inorganic particles of micro- and/or nano-metric size (10-8 – 10-5 m),
which are not usually found in healthy tissues. The origin of these particles
is predominantly environmental, due to either forms of anthropogenic pollution
or in less remarkable way, natural ones. The entry into the human and animal
organism is through inhalation and/or ingestion. The particles within the above
mentioned dimension (10-8 m is the minimum limit the instrument can detect),
once inhaled, are able to penetrate from the pulmonary alveoli into the blood
stream in very short time (one minute for those of nanometric size) and at this
point may trigger the clotting of the blood in sensible subjects. The blood
stream then, carries them into internal organs (liver, kidneys, brain etc.) and
they start to behave as foreign substances generating the formation of
granulomas and inducing inflammation. It is known that a chronic phlogosis can
be an alarm bell of a precancer condition. Phagocytosis by macrophages appears
ineffective in clearing these particles, since the particles are inorganic;
therfore once the macrophage dies, they are released again into the body with
very little ways out from it. In some cases, it has been possible to observe
particles of up to 100 nanometres in size within the cell right inside the
nucleus, without breaking its membranes. In around 500 pathological cases
observed, the particles have also been classified as not biocompatible, and
therefore, pathogenic.
Apparently as a result of studies, the toxicity of those particles is releted
to their quality of foreign substances, but also by their individual properties
such as appearance, concentration and chemical compounds. Those factors are
crucial in triggering pathologies. Critical is also the concentration of the
particles within the tissues. It would help, to establish the limit above which
the toxic effects are overwhelming. The same should apply to particles found in
the nucleus of the cells.
There is evidence of the pathogenithy of five different micro-inorganic
particles of nanometric size. The experiment, has been carried out "in vitro"
on corpore vili (body of no value), at the French laboratory Biomatech. Rats
have been induced to develop a rhabdomyosarcoma by a subcutaneous injection of
these particles. Different hundreds of studies on clinical cases, some of which
of veterinary nature, seem to support the same evidence.
The project has created the foundation of a new branch of science called
"Nanopathology" that has also allowed to predict in large advance the onset of
diseases similar to the so-called Gulf or Balkans syndrome, and in those,
survivors and their rescuers of the Trade Center's collapse in New York.
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