Nanotoxicity assessment: A challenging application for cutting edge electroanalytical tools

Abstract

In the recent years, the number of commercial products containing engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) has increased exponentially. Consequently, the toxicological profile of ENMs on the ecosystems as well as on human health has to be carefully evaluated. Nanotoxicology, an interdisciplinary research area devoted to assessing the hazards associated with ENMs, is expanding rapidly. Many physicochemical techniques and biochemical methodologies have been proposed and are currently used to characterize nanomaterials from a toxicological point of view. Electroanalytical and bioelectrochemical methods can be useful in expanding the repertoire of accessible nanotoxicity-assessment technologies and to accelerate the testing and screening of the toxicological effects of ENMs. These methods can be used for elucidating the toxicological behavior of ENMs at single cell, cell population and whole-organism levels, for in vitro and in vivo measurements, respectively. The aim of this review is to provide an overview on the bioelectrochemical approaches that have been proposed for ENMs toxicity assessment. Furthermore, an overview on cutting-edge electroanalytical devices with a potential impact to this peculiar application is provided.

Keywords: Biosensor; Cell population; Electroanalysis; High throughput screening techniques; Nanomaterial; Nanotoxicity; Single cell; Whole-organism.