出版社：Chinese Association for Aerosol Research in Taiwan
摘要：Agriculture emits a significant quantity of airborne contaminants, and the prospective environmental release of nanopesticides, a new type of agrochemical that employs engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) as either active substances or additives in a pesticide formulation, raises concerns about the risks of inhalation which are still unknown. Although the adverse effects of pesticides have been studied extensively, the potential synergistic toxicity between these substances and ENMs has rarely been investigated. To this end, toxicological models are essential to estimating the health consequences of such aerosols. Thus, to assess the respiratory hazards of titanium dioxide nano-objects (specifically, AEROXIDE® TiO2 P25 nanopowder [nTiO2]) in combination with paraquat (PQ), we developed a dynamic whole-body exposure chamber for rodents in compliance with guidelines for inhalation toxicity testing (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)) and animal welfare. First, we metrologically characterized the generated test aerosols by determining their mass and number concentrations, size distributions and atmospheric homogeneity at the laboratory. Then, we evaluated the reproducibility and proper functioning of the chamber during a preliminary field campaign, which validated the consistency of the aerosols’ mass and number concentrations between the laboratory characterization and the rodent exposure sessions. Finally, we examined the inhalation effects on the rodents.
