New techniques for NP imaging in histological samples
Luciana DINI
(Università del Salento)
Abstract
New techniques for NP imaging in histological samples
Due to the widespread application of nanosized materials (NMs), a precise characterization is need for their safe and responsible exploitation. This has opened new nanometrology challenges for an accurate morphological characterization, near atomic resolution, to ascertain NPs elemental composition or to exclude the presence of contaminants introduced during the synthesis procedures. Thus, the precise knowledge of the NMs characteristics, monitored by nanometrological techniques, is pivotal to ensure their biocompatibility and define their biological effects. Here we report how ultrastructural techniques can be exploited beside the study of NPs characterization also to identify the fate of NPs inside cells and/ or organisms and thus answer to the increasing concerns, due to the growing applications of nanotechnology in various industrial, environmental, and human settings, about the potential risk of NMs, with in vitro toxicity assessments that are becoming major approach for identifying NMs bio-safety
