Abstract

The need for reaching environmental sustainability encourages research on new cellulose-based materials for a broad range of applications across many sectors of industry. Cellulosic nanomaterials obtained from different sources and with different functionalization are being developed with the purpose of its use in many applications, in pure and composite forms, from consumer products to pharmaceutics and healthcare products. Based on previous knowledge about the possible adverse health effects of other nanomaterials with high aspect ratio and biopersistency in body fluids, e.g., carbon nanotubes, it is expected that the nanometric size of nanocellulose will increase its toxicity as compared to that of bulk cellulose. Several toxicological studies have been performed, in vitro or in vivo, with the aim of predicting the health effects caused by exposure to nanocellulose. Ultimately, their goal is to reduce the risk to humans associated with unintentional environmental or occupational exposure, and the design of safe nanocellulose materials to be used, e.g., as carriers for drug delivery or other biomedical applications, as in wound dressing materials. This review intends to identify the toxicological effects that are elicited by nanocelluloses produced through a top-down approach from vegetal biomass, namely, cellulose nanocrystals and nanofibrils, and relate them with the physicochemical characteristics of nanocellulose. For this purpose, the article provides: (i) a brief review of the types and applications of cellulose nanomaterials; (ii) a comprehensive review of the literature reporting their biological impact, alongside to their specific physicochemical characteristics, in order to draw conclusions about their effects on human health.

Graphic abstract

中文翻译：

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关于纤维素纳米晶体和纳米原纤维在动物和细胞模型中的毒性

摘要

为了达到环境可持续性的需要，鼓励对新型纤维素基材料进行研究，以使其在许多行业中得到广泛应用。正在开发从不同来源获得并具有不同功能化的纤维素纳米材料，其目的在于以纯和复合形式从消费产品到药品和保健产品以多种应用形式使用。基于先前对具有高长宽比和生物持久性的其他纳米材料在体液中可能产生的不利健康影响的知识，例如碳纳米管，预计纳米纤维素的纳米尺寸将比散装纤维素增加其毒性。已经进行了一些体内或体外的毒理学研究，目的是预测由于暴露于纳米纤维素对健康的影响。最终，他们的目标是减少与无意的环境或职业暴露有关的人类风险，并设计安全的纳米纤维素材料，例如用作伤口敷料中药物输送或其他生物医学应用的载体。这项审查旨在确定由自上而下的方法从植物生物质即纤维素纳米晶体和纳米原纤维产生的纳米纤维素引起的毒理作用，并将它们与纳米纤维素的理化特性相关联。为此，本文提供：（i）纤维素纳米材料的类型和应用的简要回顾；（ii）对报道其生物学影响的文献进行全面审查，

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