11-6-2009 Nanoparticles of metal can damage the DNA inside cells even if there is no direct contact between them, scientists have found. The discovery provides an insight into how the particles might exert their influence inside the body….nanoparticles – which are a thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair and used in everything from sunscreens to electronics.
In the experiment, scientists from the University of Bristol grew a layer of cells and exposed one side to cobalt-chromium nanoparticles. On the other side of this cellular barrier were human cells called fibroblasts. Though the nanoparticles never crossed the cellular barrier, they managed to damage the DNA of the fibrolasts via a cascade of biological signals in the intervening cells….
Case's team found that the DNA in the fibrolasts had around 10 times as much damage, in terms of breaks in the genetic material, compared with control conditions. DNA damage can lead to various diseases, including cancer, but Patrick Case of the University of Bristol said the changes observed in his experiments did not lead him to believe the fibrolasts were becoming cancerous.
The research team deliberately exposed the barrier cells in their experiment to a dose of nanoparticles thousands of times higher than anything that would occur naturally. "We used high doses of them because we wanted to make sure that the dose we used would cause damage to cells if the cells were exposed. Ashley Blom, head of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Bristol, said: "This work has raised some really interesting questions and given us insight into how barriers in the body might work. The body has lots of different barriers – blood-brain barrier, the skin, the lining of the gut , the placenta – and it may be that this mechanism works in some of these barriers." https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/nov/06/
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We’ve also been told NOx gases – including nitrogen dioxide – are the biggest threat to health within cities. However NOx is responsible for just 14% of deaths attributed to air pollution in Europe. The biggest killer of all never makes the headlines, isn’t regulated, and is barely talked about beyond niche scientific circles (despite their best efforts to change that narrative): it’s nanoparticles….
the highest nanoparticle averages were recorded inside the cars and buses: the closer to the source of the pollution, the exhaust pipes spewing out the fumes, the higher the total number of nanoparticles….
This is a problem for our health, explains Kumar, “because the smaller particles you have, you have a greater surface area. A greater surface area means more [potential] toxicity, as they are in touch with a greater surface area inside your body.”…And that surface area comes coated with toxic, unburnt fuel from vehicle exhausts….
Nanoparticles can also pass through the walls of the lungs and into the bloodstream, in a way that larger particles cannot. Once in the bloodstream they cause the same inflammation damage they inflict on the lungs, except now they can reach any organ or artery in the body.
David Newby, funded by the British Heart Foundation, then took the study further. Again it had been theorised--but not proven--that nanoparticle build-up in the arteries could lead to strokes and heart disease.
The Global Burden of Diseases study estimates that air pollution could account for 21% of all deaths due to stroke and 24% of deaths from ischaemic heart disease. Traffic fumes had long been considered the smoking gun, but the bullet had proved elusive. Now many think that the bullet is nanoparticles….
But no similar regulatory limits exist for nanoparticles. Like nanoparticles, NO2 is highest closest to its source, and then quickly dissipates. NO2 even reacts with other gases in the air to form some of the nanoparticles. So tackling NO2 can often work as a proxy to reduce nanoparticles. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191113-the-toxic-killers-in-our-air-too-small-to-see
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3-19-21 doctors may someday be able to flood your head with millions of nanoparticles that can read your neural signals from inside and relay them to a nearby computer.
At least, that’s the future that University of Miami engineer Sakhrat Khizroev is hoping for. He’s developed magnetoelectric nanoparticles (MENPs) that can travel through your bloodstream, permeat your brain, and read individual neurons’ signals in a way that can be picked up by a specialized helmet, according to a university press release.
In short, it’s a tool that could drastically change the way scientists approach brain-computer interface tech by taking away invasive, localized probes and replacing them with millions of particles that are injected like any other shot and can cover the entire brain — and one that’s already attracting interest from the military.
“Right now, we’re just scratching the surface,” Khizroev said in the press release. “We can only imagine how our everyday life will change with such technology.” DARPA, the Pentagon’s research division, launched the BRainSTORMS project to test the technology in hopes that it will allow soldiers injected with the nanoparticles to communicate with military systems with just their thoughts. https://futurism.com/neoscope/darpa-nanoparticles-brain-neural-signals
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