Assessing Nanoparticle Toxicity using Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis

At the same time as an increasing interest in, and rapid development of, a wide range of materials and products containing nanoscale structures and engineered nanoparticles, awareness has grown that the longer term potential toxic effects of such materials and their potential environmental impact are poorly understood. Existing methods have been assessed and new methods sought by which such materials could be analyzed on a routine basis during development and manufacture. Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) utilizes the properties of both light scattering and Brownian motion in order to obtain the particle size distribution of samples in liquid suspension, and shows potential for the analysis of a range of environmental nanoparticle contaminants.