Understanding the in vivo fate and transport of nanoparticles (NPs) is challenging, but critical. We review recent studies of metal and metal oxide NPs using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, summarizing major findings to date. In a joint transdisciplinary effort, we highlight underutilized opportunities offered by powerful techniques lying at the intersection of mechanistic toxicology and materials science. To this end, we firstly summarize the influence of exposure conditions (media, duration, C. elegans lifestage) and NP physicochemical properties (size, coating, composition) on the response of the worm to NP treatment. Next, we focus on the techniques employed to study NP entrance route, uptake, biodistribution and fate, emphasizing the potential of extending the toolkit available with novel and powerful techniques. Next, we review findings on several NP-induced biological responses, namely transport routes and altered molecular pathways, and illustrate the molecular biology and genetic strategies applied, critically reviewing their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, we advocate the incorporation of a set of minimal materials and toxicological science experiments that will permit meta-analysis and synthesis of multiple studies in the future. We believe this review will facilitate coordinated integration of both well-established and underutilized approaches in mechanistic toxicology and materials science by the nanomaterials research community.

中文翻译：

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研究模型生物秀丽隐杆线虫中金属和金属氧化物纳米粒子的材料和毒理学方法

了解纳米颗粒 (NP) 的体内命运和运输具有挑战性，但也至关重要。我们回顾了最近使用模式生物秀丽隐杆线虫进行的金属和金属氧化物纳米颗粒的研究，总结了迄今为止的主要发现。在跨学科的联合努力中，我们强调机械毒理学和材料科学交叉领域的强大技术所提供的未充分利用的机会。为此，我们首先总结了暴露条件（介质、持续时间、线虫生命阶段）和纳米颗粒理化性质（尺寸、涂层、成分）对线虫对纳米颗粒处理反应的影响。接下来，我们重点关注用于研究 NP 进入途径、摄取、生物分布和命运的技术，强调通过新颖而强大的技术扩展可用工具包的潜力。接下来，我们回顾了几种 NP 诱导的生物反应的发现，即转运路线和改变的分子途径，并说明了所应用的分子生物学和遗传策略，批判性地回顾了它们的优点和缺点。最后，我们主张纳入一套最少的材料和毒理学科学实验，这将允许未来对多项研究进行荟萃分析和综合。我们相信，这次审查将促进纳米材料研究界对机械毒理学和材料科学中成熟和未充分利用的方法进行协调整合。