AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

Nowadays nanoparticles are already used in a lot of products. In some situations humans and animals are exposed to nanoparticles daily. Despite the widespread use, there is an important question to be answered: What are exactly the risks of nanoparticles to human health? A lot of research is already done, but still some answers are missing. Studies on cultured cells might help answering this question. In this article the effects of two concentrations (0.01 mg/ml and 0.1 mg/ml) Silica nanoparticles to RAT-1 fibroblast cells is studied. The main goals are to study the effects of the nanoparticles directly after exposure and after longer periods. Therefore RAT-1 fibroblast cells were exposed to the silica nanoparticles and followed during three weeks with light and electron microscopy. A second very interesting point are the effects of a much smaller dose of nanoparticles exposure of the cells for longer periods. In some daily used products nanoparticles are already added. What are the effects of those low daily concentrations to the cell? Again the effects of those low doses are studied with light and electron microscopy. This article demonstrates that as soon the nanoparticles are added to the cells the viability of the cells drops down. This effect is dose depended. During the three weeks the viability increases slowly. The cells are recov-ering and at the end of the three weeks they appeared almost normal, except the nanoparticles still inside the cells. They accumulate inside the vesicles. Even a regular low dose will accumulate and will disturb the cell the same as a high dose of nanoparticles. This indicates that even a very low concentration of nanoparticles could be a problem: it accumulates.