Nanomaterials and nanoparticles have received considerable attention for the past decade due to their unique properties and diverse applications in technology and life sciences. Despite the widespread use of nanomaterial products, relatively few studies have been undertaken to determine the biological effects of nanoparticle exposure. Accumulating evidences have suggested that nanoparticles exhibit cytotoxicity and genotoxicity in both in vivo and in vitro studies. Given the increasing use of nanoparticles in a range of products, it has become crucial to develop a fundamental understanding of the biological effect of nanoparticle exposure. Currently, nanoparticles toxicity testing is based on in vitro studies using cell culture system; however, many problems are found to be associated with the testing system. The purpose of this project is to establish a fast screening platform to evaluate the cytotoxicity of nanoparticles that may expose human by inhalation, dermal absorption, and ingestion. This innovative screening platform is expected to replace traditional in vitro tests with more accuracy, higher sensitivity, and faster screening. Furthermore, we propose to assess the cytotoxicity of nanoparticles in the environmental air samples which are collected by an efficient single-stager wet electrostatic precipitator that has shown promising results to reduce the typical problems associated with dry nanoparticles powder commonly used for in vitro cytotoxicity analyses. In our results, we show that there is an association between concentrations of nanosilver and inhibition of cell growth analyzing by the xCELLigence system utilizing NIH3T3 cells. It is suggested that NIH3T3 line is suitable for the xCELLigence system in examining cytotoxicity of nanoparticles. Additionally, we also have made progress on the examining the cytotoxicity using samples collected by wet nanoparticle sampler system (WPS). In general, we conclude that xCELLigence system is a faster, more convenient and sensitive, and less labor-consuming alternative cytotoxicity assay system compared to traditional cytotoxicity assays.

nanoparticle;cytotoxicity;environmental samples