Nanomaterials vs Ambient Ultrafine Particles: an Opportunity to Exchange Toxicology Knowledge

A rich literature exists that has demonstrated adverse human health effects following exposure to ambient air particulate matter (PM), with strong support for an important role for ultrafine (nano-sized) particles. At present, relatively little human health or epidemiology data exists for engineered nanomaterials (NM) despite clear parallels in their physicochemical properties and biological actions in models. NMs are available in a range of physicochemical characteristics which allow a more systematic toxicological analysis. Therefore, the study of ultrafine particles (UFP,