Lung deposition and biokinetics of inhaled nanoparticles

The inhalation and deposition of Nanoparticles (NP) in the respiratory tract provide a direct route of intake into the organism by crossing the air-blood-barrier. In order to assess the potential health risk, the biokinetic fate in the organism is a pre-requisite of subsequent toxicological response studies. Deposition of inhaled NP is diffusion dominated and increases with decreasing NP size. Additionally NP deposition is rather homogeneous per surface area throughout the respiratory epithelium. Due to the much larger alveolar surface area compared to that of airways most NP are deposited in the alveolar region…