The Role of Eicosanoids in the Cardiovascular Actions of Inhaled Nanoparticles

Summary

Nanoparticles (NPs) are minute pieces of material to which we are exposed every day in the air we breathe. Some are naturally occurring and have no impact on health, whereas others are produced from urban air pollution and can worsen diseases, particularly in the lungs and blood vessels. However, there is great interest in developing new NPs because of their unique properties that are useful for many applications, such as engineering, electronics and for drug delivery. At present it is unclear exactly what effects inhaled NPs have. Our current programme of research is designed to assess whether a specialized group of fats made in the body (called eicosanoids) drive the cardiovascular effects of NPs. The changes in the profiles of these fats will provide unique fingerprints that could be used to predict the actions of new NPs.

In the proposed clinical study we shall investigate the effects of both environmental and manufactured carbonaceous NPs on the lungs, blood vessels, blood clotting, and levels of eicosanoids in blood and urine. We have previously investigated the cardiovascular effects of carbon nanoparticles after inhalation in man, and these experiments will investigate how the shape, size and composition of carbon particles influence these responses. These experiments will provide new insight into how NPs affect the body and pave the way for new ways to predict the toxic effects of NPs (reducing the need for animal experiments). The findings will enable the design of novel NP without the harmful characteristics of those found in air pollution.

Conditions

• Blood Biomarkers
• Vasodilation
• Blood Clotting
• Lung Function
• Healthy Volunteers

Interventions

OTHER

diesel exhaust particulate

aerosolised diesel exhaust particulate

OTHER

carbon nanoparticles

aerosolised 'clean' carbon nanoparticles

OTHER

small graphene oxide

aerosolised 'small' graphene oxide

OTHER

ultrasmall graphene oxide

aerosolised 'ultrasmall' graphene oxide

OTHER

filtered air

control: filtered air

Sponsors & Collaborators

• NHS Lothian

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• University of Edinburgh

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

40 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-10-03

Primary Completion

2019-03-29

Completion

2020-11-27

Countries

• United Kingdom

Study Locations