Building the Bridge From Aquatic Nanotoxicology to Safety by Design Silver Nanoparticles

CORSI, ILARIA; DESIMONE, MARTIN FEDERICO; CAZENAVE, JIMENA

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

www.frontiersin.org

Año: 2022 vol. 10

Nanotechnologies have rapidly grown, and they are considered the new industrialrevolution. However, the augmented production and wide applications of engineerednanomaterials (ENMs) and nanoparticles (NPs) inevitably lead to environmentalexposure with consequences on human and environmental health. Engineerednanomaterial and nanoparticle (ENM/P) effects on humans and the environment arecomplex and largely depend on the interplay between their peculiar properties such assize, shape, coating, surface charge, and degree of agglomeration or aggregation andthose of the receiving media/body. These rebounds on ENM/P safety and newlydeveloped concepts such as the safety by design are gaining importance in thefield of sustainable nanotechnologies. This article aims to review the criticalcharacteristics of the ENM/Ps that need to be addressed in the safe by designprocess to develop ENM/Ps with the ablility to reduce/minimize any potentialtoxicological risks for living beings associated with their exposure. Specifically, wefocused on silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) due to an increasing number of nanoproductscontaining AgNPs, as well as an increasing knowledge about these nanomaterials(NMs) and their effects. We review the ecotoxicological effects documented onfreshwater and marine species that demonstrate the importance of the relationshipbetween the ENM/P design and their biological outcomes in terms of environmentalsafety.