Exposure to metal oxide nanomaterials potentially occurs at the workplace. We investigated the toxicity of two Fe-oxides: Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles and nanorods; and three MFe₂O₄ spinels: NiZnFe₄O₈, ZnFe₂O₄, and NiFe₂O₄ nanoparticles. Mice were dosed 14, 43 or 128 μg by intratracheal instillation. Recovery periods were 1, 3, or 28 days. Inflammation – neutrophil influx into bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid – occurred for Fe₂O₃ rods (1 day), ZnFe₂O₄ (1, 3 days), NiFe₂O₄ (1, 3, 28 days), Fe₂O₃ (28 days) and NiZnFe₄O₈ (28 days). Conversion of mass-dose into specific surface-area-dose showed that inflammation correlated with deposited surface area and consequently, all these nanomaterials belong to the so-called low-solubility, low-toxicity class. Increased levels of DNA strand breaks were observed for both Fe₂O₃ particles and rods, in BAL cells three days post-exposure. To our knowledge, this is, besides magnetite (Fe₃O₄), the first study of the pulmonary toxicity of MFe₂O₄ spinel nanomaterials.

暴露于金属氧化物纳米材料可能在工作场所发生。我们研究了两种铁氧化物的毒性：Fe ₂ O ₃纳米粒子和纳米棒；Fe ₂ O ₃纳米粒子和纳米棒。三个MFe ₂ O ₄尖晶石：NiZnFe ₄ O ₈，ZnFe ₂ O ₄和NiFe ₂ O ₄纳米颗粒。气管内滴注给小鼠14、43或128μg。恢复期为1、3或28天。炎症–中性粒细胞流入支气管肺泡灌洗液（BAL）– Fe ₂ O ₃棒（1天），ZnFe ₂ O ₄棒（1、3天），NiFe _2发生O ₄（1、3、28天），Fe ₂ O ₃（28天）和NiZnFe ₄ O ₈（28天）。将质量剂量转换成特定的表面积剂量表明炎症与沉积的表面积相关，因此，所有这些纳米材料都属于所谓的低溶解度，低毒性类别。暴露后三天，在BAL细胞中观察到Fe ₂ O ₃颗粒和棒的DNA链断裂水平增加。据我们所知，这是除磁铁矿（Fe ₃ O ₄）以外的MFe ₂ O ₄尖晶石纳米材料对肺毒性的首次研究。