A materials scientist working with new materials is often anxious about the product’s health effects. This book on engineered nanomaterials promises support in some of these questions with respect to nanoparticles. It gives indications about toxicity and the mechanisms of toxicity of nanomaterials, but it does not provide the average materials scientist with sufficient basic knowledge. As this topic is extremely complex, it is necessary to read at least a few chapters in detail to obtain the answers needed. Finally, this book is written for the professional development of toxicologists or students of this science.
The book starts with a short, simple, and clear introduction to the basics of nanoparticles, namely their properties and characterization. The introduction to “Nanotoxicology” is important to the engineer and materials scientist. The author explains that the conventional concept of a dose–response relationship based on the ratio between mass of the noxa (toxic substance) and body weight is no longer valid. Instead, one needs a new relation, taking into account the huge surface area of nanoparticles. However, such an indicator has been missing until now.
The mechanisms of toxicity of nanoparticles are explained. Nanoparticles may have the potential to distribute in the whole human body; therefore, materials doing no harm as a bulk material to the human body may be highly toxic as a nanoparticle. In some cases, this behavior of nanoparticles is dangerous; however, using nanoparticles in addition to drugs may be the most important property and best approach (e.g., for cancer treatment). To verify these findings, the major part of the book describes the interaction of nanoparticles with proteins, cells, and human organs in detail. Besides the interaction with the human body and its cells, two chapters are devoted to the influence on the ecosystem and environmental risks.
The text of the book is supported by instructive figures. The amount of literature presented is nearly endless. Perhaps an additional selection of a few key papers per chapter would have been helpful for the reader from other fields of science. Analyzing the citations, the materials scientist will realize that toxicologists see other (and sometimes later) scientists as developers of a few key technologies. I would recommend this book for experienced materials scientists who deal with safety problems connected to nanomaterials.
Reviewer: Dieter Vollath of NanoConsulting, Stutensee, Germany.
