Epidemiological studies have established a strong correlation between inhaling ultrafine particles from incomplete combustion and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Still, relatively little is known about the mechanisms behind how air particulates affect human health. New work with carbon nanodots seeks to provide the first model of how ultrafine carbon-based particles interact with the lung tissues.
An international group of researchers created a 3-D lung cell model system to investigate how carbon-based combustion byproducts behave as they interact with human epithelial tissue. In Biointerphases, an AVS journal, the investigators discovered that the surface properties of the carbon nanodot's properties and aggregation patterns affected their distribution in a lab-grown copy of the lung's barrier layer, the epithelium. The carbon nanodots served as representatives for air pollution particles.
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