The safety of nanomaterials has been debated in the literature, with hundreds of studies published regarding their toxicity. While the studies have shown toxic effects, there is no consensus on the threshold of toxic effects due to studies using different test organisms and particles that vary in size, shape, and coating. Using the Nano-E-Tox database containing 1500 individual toxicity measurements from 224 papers, a first of its kind meta-analysis has been performed to better understand the nanotoxicological data. This meta-analysis looks beyond the generally reported mg/L toxicity thresholds by converting to surface area and particles per liter concentrations. The changed units offer an opportunity to narrow the range where toxic effects begin by considering units that account for the properties of the nanoparticle, namely size and shape, which in turn may indicate a mechanism for nanoparticle toxicity.

Meta-analysis of nanoparticle toxicity: Determining effect of units and identifying future directions

255th National Meeting (2018)

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