title: Nanoparticles and the cardiovascular system: a critical review.
abstract: Nanoparticles (NPs) are tiny particles with a diameter of less than 100 nm. Traffic exhaust is a major source of combustion-derived NPs (CDNPs), which represent a significant component in urban air pollution. Epidemiological, panel and controlled human chamber studies clearly demonstrate that exposure to CDNPs is associated with multiple adverse cardiovascular effects in both healthy individuals and those with pre-existing cardiovascular disease. NPs are also manufactured from a large range of materials for industrial use in a vast array of products including for use as novel imaging agents for medical use. There is currently little information available on the impacts of manufactured NPs in humans, but experimental studies demonstrate similarities to the detrimental cardiovascular actions of CDNPs. This review describes the evidence for these cardiovascular effects and attempts to resolve the paradox between the adverse effects of the unintentional exposure of CDNPs and the intentional delivery of manufactured NPs for medical purposes.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Inflammation Research, Queens Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. ken.donaldson@ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Donaldson
authors.forename: Rodger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Duffin
authors.forename: Jeremy P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Langrish
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Nicholas L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Mills
authors.forename: Craig A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Poland
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raftis
authors.forename: Anoop
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Catherine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Newby
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000633:toxicity; D000397:Air Pollution; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002319:Cardiovascular System / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000737:chemistry*; D001335:Vehicle Emissions
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D001335:Vehicle Emissions