Using a chemical trick that allows them to change the acidity of a solution almost instantly, a team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has demonstrated a simple and effective technique for quantifying how the stability of nanoparticle solutions change when the acidity of their environment suddenly changes*. The measurement method and the problem studied are part of a broader effort at NIST to understand the environmental, health and safety implications of nanoparticles.
Any change in nanoparticle solubility with local acidity (pH**) ultimately affects how they are distributed in the environment as well as their potential for uptake into organisms. This is crucial when designing nanoparticles for use in medicine, explains NIST chemical engineer Vivek Prabhu. "Cells in the body are very compartmentalized. There are places within the cell that have vastly different pH. For instance, in the sea of the cell, the cytosol, pH is regulated to be about 7.2, which is slightly basic. But within the lysosome, which is where things go to get broken down, the pH is about 4.5, so it's very acidic."
Nanoparticles designed for use in drug therapy or as contrast agents for medical imaging typically are coated with molecules to prevent the particles from clumping together, which would reduce their effectiveness. But the efficacy of the anti-clumping coating often depends on the pH of the environment. According to the NIST team, while it's relatively easy to put nanoparticles in a solution at a particular pH and to study the stability of the suspension over long times, it is difficult to tell what happens when the particles are suddenly exposed to a different level of acidity as often occurs in environmental and application contexts. How long does it take them to react to this change and how?
"Our idea borrows some of the materials used in photolithography to make microcircuits," says Prabhu. "There are molecules that becom
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| Contact: Michael Baum michael.baum@nist.gov 301-975-2763 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Source:Eurekalert |
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