CHEMISTRY & PHYSICS: Are Tungsten Carbide Cobalt Nanoparticles Harmful to Health? Chemical-physical Measuring Methods as Basis for the Investigation of Potentially Harmful Effects

摘要

Tungsten carbide and tungsten carbide cobalt nanoparticles can enter cultured mammalian cells. This finding emerges from a study conducted by scientists from Dresden University, the Leipzig Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems in Dresden (IKTS). However, the results show that nanoparticles of pure tungsten carbide do not have any cytotoxic effects. These are only produced when the nanoparticles are mixed with toxic substances such as cobalt. In the in vitro study, which has been published in the well-respected journal Environmental Health Perspectives, the researchers investigated the effect of tungsten carbide and tungsten carbide cobalt nanoparticles with an aggregate size of 150 nanometers on cell cultures derived from human lung, skin and intestinal cells as well as from rat brain cells.