Nanoparticles are widely used in electronic, aerospace, textile, pharmaceutical, or plastics industry. However so far, little is known about the health risks of these industrially used nanoparticles. The BMBF initiated the project NanoCare, consisting of partners from industry as well as from scientific organizations. On the one hand, risk assessment of the nanoparticles shall eventually reveal occurring health risks and correlate them with special particle traits (e.g. charge or size). On the other hand a structured and interpreted information data base shall be generated that rests upon the results created. For these purposes, in vitro and in vivo experiments are being conducted on nanoparticles provided by the industrial partners.

Because nanoparticles are so small, they may be able to undermine the natural protection mechanisms of epithelial barriers. Here, the alveolar epithelium is of special interest, because it is a model of the air-blood-barrier. So we investigate and quantify the ability of the particles to permeate through epithelia so they can possibly enter the blood stream. Eventually occurring correlations of permeation and physical or chemical properties of the particles shall be revealed. Not just the permeation, but also the adhesion of the particles onto the cells as well as their uptake into the cells is investigated. In the end, the in vitro results are compared to the results obtained with in vivo experiments to see the similarities and differences these different models display.

• Project website