High throughput toxicity screening and intracellular detection of nanomaterials

With the growing numbers of nanomaterials (), there is a great demand for rapid and reliable ways of testing safety-preferably using in vitro approaches, to avoid the ethical dilemmas associated with animal research. Data are needed for developing intelligent testing strategies for risk assessment of , based on grouping and read-across approaches. The adoption of high throughput screening () and high content analysis () for toxicity testing allows the testing of numerous materials at different concentrations and on different types of cells, reduces the effect of inter-experimental variation, and makes substantial savings in time and cost. / approaches facilitate the classification of key biological indicators of -cell interactions. Validation of in vitro tests is required, taking account of relevance to results. / approaches are needed to assess dose- and time-dependent toxicity, allowing prediction of adverse effects. Several / methods are being validated and applied for testing in the project , including Label-free cellular screening of uptake, HCA, High throughput flow cytometry, Impedance-based monitoring, Multiplex analysis of secreted products, and genotoxicity methods-namely High throughput comet assay, High throughput in vitro micronucleus assay, and assay. There are several technical challenges with / for testing, as toxicity screening needs to be coupled with characterization of in exposure medium prior to the test; possible interference of with / techniques is another concern. Advantages and challenges of / approaches in safety are discussed.