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Toxicity Study of Nanofibers

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Book cover Supramolecular Structure and Function 10

Abstract

The major contribution of nanotechnology to our life is the controlled synthesis of a large variety of nanofilaments (nanowires and nanotubes) which could be the basis of future devices. Although the expectations are large concerning the improvement of our everyday life due to nanostructures (sensors, vectors for therapies, photovoltaic devices, fast integrated circuits etc.), there is a growing fear related to their possible health hazards, strongly reminiscent to those of asbestos. We have studied 3 model nanofilaments: TiO2 nanowires, carbon and boron nitride (BN) nanotubes using MTT assays. We tried to unravel the role of local catalytic activity, the importance of structural defects, functional groups and the tortuosity of these nanofilaments in their alteration of cell proliferation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was the subject of one of my presentations (L.F) at the Biophysics Summer School in Rovinj, the last one which Greta Pifat-Mrzljak could organize. During 30 years with lot of devotion and professionalism she brought together excellent speakers and hundreds of young students. Under the Mediterranean sky she cultivated a very creative atmosphere. Her memory occupies a permanent place in our hearts.

This work is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The supply of BN nanotubes by Dmitri Goldberg is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Unit of Anatomy, University of Fribourg, 1700, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Lenke Horváth & Beat Schwaller

  2. Laboratory of Physics of Complex Matter, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Lenke Horváth, Arnaud Magrez & László Forró

Authors
  1. Lenke Horváth
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  2. Arnaud Magrez
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  3. Beat Schwaller
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  4. László Forró
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Correspondence to Lenke Horváth .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Ŝalata 3, Zagreb, 10000, Croatia

    Jasminka Brnjas-Kraljević

  2. Ruder Boskovic Institute, Bijenicka 54, Zagreb, 10000, Croatia

    Greta Pifat-Mrzljak

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Horváth, L., Magrez, A., Schwaller, B., Forró, L. (2011). Toxicity Study of Nanofibers. In: Brnjas-Kraljević, J., Pifat-Mrzljak, G. (eds) Supramolecular Structure and Function 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0893-8_9

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