Due to their unique physicochemical properties, nanomaterials have the potential to interact with living organisms in novel ways. Nanomaterial variants are too numerous to be screened for toxicity individually by traditional animal testing. Existing data on the toxicity of inhaled nanomaterials in animal models are sparse in comparison to the number of potential factors that may affect toxicity. This paper presents meta-analysis-based risk models developed with the machine-learning technique, random forests (RFs), to determine the relative contribution of different physical and chemical attributes on observed toxicity. The findings from this analysis indicate that carbon nanotube (CNT) impurities explain at most 30% of the variance in pulmonary toxicity as measured by polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) count. Titanium dioxide nanoparticle size and aggregation affected the observed toxic response by less than 10%. Differences in observed effects for a group of metal oxide nanoparticles associated with differences in Gibbs free energy on lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) concentrations amount to only 4% to the total variance.
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June 2016
Research-Article
Nanoparticle Characteristic Interaction Effects on Pulmonary Toxicity: A Random Forest Modeling Framework to Compare Risks of Nanomaterial Variants
Jeremy M. Gernand,
Jeremy M. Gernand
1
Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering,
e-mail: jmgernand@psu.edu
The Pennsylvania State University
, 110 Hosler Bldg., University Park, PA 16802
e-mail: jmgernand@psu.edu
1Corresponding author.
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Elizabeth A. Casman
Elizabeth A. Casman
Engineering and Public Policy Department,
e-mail: casman@andrew.cmu.edu
Carnegie Mellon University
, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213
e-mail: casman@andrew.cmu.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Jeremy M. Gernand
Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering,
e-mail: jmgernand@psu.edu
The Pennsylvania State University
, 110 Hosler Bldg., University Park, PA 16802
e-mail: jmgernand@psu.edu
Elizabeth A. Casman
Engineering and Public Policy Department,
e-mail: casman@andrew.cmu.edu
Carnegie Mellon University
, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213
e-mail: casman@andrew.cmu.edu
1Corresponding author.
Manuscript received February 18, 2015; final manuscript received July 29, 2015; published online January 4, 2016. Assoc. Editor: Chimba Mkandawire.
ASME J. Risk Uncertainty Part B. Jun 2016, 2(2): 021002 (13 pages)
Published Online: January 4, 2016
Article history
Received:
February 18, 2015
Revision Received:
July 29, 2015
Accepted:
July 31, 2015
Citation
Gernand, J. M., and Casman, E. A. (January 4, 2016). "Nanoparticle Characteristic Interaction Effects on Pulmonary Toxicity: A Random Forest Modeling Framework to Compare Risks of Nanomaterial Variants." ASME. ASME J. Risk Uncertainty Part B. June 2016; 2(2): 021002. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4031216
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