尽管目前纳米材料的市场很小，而且其浓度可能不高 在环境中处于足以导致人类健康或环境问题的高度， 这一市场正在迅速增长，纳米材料正在向环境中排放 在不久的将来，随着制造成本的降低和新产品的出现，这一趋势可能会非常显著 应用程序被发现。纳米材料在细胞中的积累可能会 重大的环境和人类影响。然而，目前所知甚少 关于这些人造纳米材料在地球上的命运、运输、转化和毒性 环境。本研究项目的目标是:描述 水环境中纳米材料的基本特性； 检查 纳米材料与有毒有机污染物和病原体（病毒）之间的相互作用； 评估饮用水单元工艺对纳米材料的去除效率； 此外，使用细胞培养模型测试饮用水中纳米材料的毒性 上皮系统。这项研究考虑了物理、化学和生物因素 纳米材料命运和毒性在系统中的影响，将提供对 纳米材料存在的可能性，以及在经过处理的饮用水中引起健康问题的可能性 水 商用金属氧化物纳米颗粒（粉末或液体悬浮液）的表征 通过扫描电子显微镜或放置这些颗粒后的动态光散射 在水中表明，这些纳米材料在购买时会聚集并保留 在溶液中聚合。尝试用化学方法分解水中的纳米材料 超声波处理、pH调节、溶剂添加或表面活性剂添加对反应的影响最小 平均粒径。因此，金属氧化物纳米颗粒的聚集范围为 纳米颗粒浓度为10 mg/L时，粒径为500至10000 nm。 因此，金属氧化物纳米颗粒的命运和运输实际上可能更多地取决于 聚集动力学比离散纳米颗粒在水中的行为更重要。为了应对命运 我们团队合成了具有平均粒子数的金属氧化物 直径约为10 nm，最初未聚合，将在未来测试中使用。 已经进行了模拟饮用水处理（jar试验）的实验 混凝、絮凝、沉淀和过滤）。两种金属凝固剂（明矾、， 铁）和盐（MgCl₂）被用来破坏金属氧化物的稳定性或聚集金属氧化物 纳米颗粒。实验包括钛、铁和氧化铝 纳米颗粒和镉量子点。总的来说，只有混凝和沉淀 去除40%至60%的这些纳米颗粒，并过滤（0.45µm或3µm孔径 直径）再去除50%到80%。某些初始值的10%到30% 然而，在模拟水处理试验之后，纳米颗粒仍然存在。 跨上皮电阻（TEER）测量采用 CaCO 2 BBe（人类肠道细胞）用Dulbecco改良的 添加10%胎牛血清的Eagle培养基（DMEM）， 青霉素/链霉素/真菌酮和转铁蛋白。增长的广泛优化 条件已经具备。初步实验表明，减少了10到50 应用金属氧化物纳米颗粒后1小时内的TEER百分比。 细胞的光谱研究正在进行中，以确定 提尔的变化。包括57篇参考文献，见图。

Although the current market for nanomaterials is small and their concentration may not be high enough in the environment to cause human health or environmental problems, this market is increasing rapidly and the discharge of nanomaterials into the environment in the near future could be significant as manufacturing costs decrease and new applications are discovered. The accumulation of nanomaterials in cells may have significant environmental and human impacts. At present, however, very little is known about the fate, transport, transformation, and toxicity of these man-made nanomaterials in the environment. The objectives of this research project are to: characterize the fundamental properties of nanomaterials in aquatic environments; examine the interactions between nanomaterials and toxic organic pollutants and pathogens (viruses); evaluate the removal efficiency of nanomaterials by drinking water unit processes; and, test the toxicity of nanomaterials in drinking water using the cell culture model system of the epithelium. This study considers the physical, chemical, and biological implications of nanomaterial fate and toxicity in systems that will provide insight into the potential for nanomaterials to be present and to cause health concern in treated drinking water. Characterization of commercial metal oxide nanoparticles (powder or liquid suspensions) by scanning electron microscopy or by dynamic light scatter after placing these particles in water indicates that these nanomaterials are aggregated when purchased and remain aggregated in solution. Attempts to disaggregate the nanomaterials in water using sonication, pH adjustment, solvent addition, or surfactant addition had minimal effect on mean particle sizes. As a consequence, the metal oxide nanoparticle aggregates range in size from 500 to 10,000 nm in diameter at concentrations of 10 mg/L of nanoparticles. Thus fate and transport of metal oxide nanoparticles may actually depend more on aggregation kinetics than behavior of discrete nanoparticles in water. To address the fate of discrete nanoparticles our team has synthesized metal oxides with mean particle diameters of ~ 10 nm, which are not initially aggregated and will be used in future tests. Experiments have been conducted that simulate drinking water treatment (jar tests with coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration). Both metal coagulants (alum, ferric) and salt (MgCl₂) have been used to destabilize or otherwise aggregate metal oxide nanoparticles. Experiments have included titanium, iron, and aluminum oxide nanoparticles, and cadmium quantum dots. Overall, coagulation and sedimentation alone remove 40 to 60 percent of these nanoparticles, and filtration (0.45 µm or 3 µm pore diameter) removes an additional 50 to 80 percent. Ten to 30 percent of some initial nanoparticles remain, however, after this simulated water treatment test. Trans-Epithelial Electrical Resistance (TEER) measurements have been made using Caco2 BBe (human intestinal cells) grown and maintained with Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) media supplemented with 10 percent fetal bovine serum, penicillin/ streptomycin/ fungizone, and transferrin. Extensive optimization of growth conditions were undertaken. Preliminary experiments indicate a decrease of 10 to 50 percent in TEER within 1 hour after application of metal oxide nanoparticles. Spectroscopic investigations of the cells are underway to determine the mechanism for change in TEER. Includes 57 references, figure.