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Post by violet on Jan 30, 2011 17:33:47 GMT -5
www.skintherapyletter.com/2010/15.9/2.htmlAccumulation and Elimination A third basis of toxicity is accumulation (Figure 1). Some nanoparticles, such as carbohydrate-based polymers, are biodegradable. Others, such as carbon nanotubes,30,31 have no natural elimination pathway. If these accumulate in tissues, there is a potential that even small doses over many years can lead to disease, either through crowding of vital organs (as in scleromyxedema), reaching a critical threshold of toxicity, triggering protein misfolding (as in prion diseases or Alzheimer’s disease), or eliciting an inflammatory response (as in sarcoidosis). Accumulation without elimination can also have long-term implications; for example, by establishing a depot of toxicity in females decades before a pregnancy, which can eventually affect a developing fetus. Accumulation can also occur through biomagnification in the food web. Ruth, you surely find some good things to post.
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