In the present scenario, the burgeoning field of nanotechnology is playing central role in various real world applications. Researches
engrossing nanoparticles are evolving at a rapid pace owing to which engineered nanomaterials are increasingly becoming part of daily life
in the form of cosmetics, food packaging, drug delivery, therapeutics, biosensors, etc. It is intrigued that the properties of nanoparticles
which bestow them their unique physicochemical characteristics could also lead to adverse biological consequences such as increased
uptake and interaction with the biological systems. Nanomaterials, due to their small size could enter the body through various semi open
anatomical interfaces and can penetrate through cells and organelles and disrupt their normal function, which could lead to tissue
inflammation, altered cellular redox balance or even cell death. Nanoparticles unlike larger particles can transverse through the
circulatory/lymphatic to various vital organs of the body including nervous systems and brain. Nanomaterials could lead to various allied
illnesses including bronchitis, asthma, lung and liver cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Crohn’s disease, heart disease and
colon cancer. Reckoning with the unprecedented applicability’s of nanomaterials in daily life, avenues for direct or indirect exposures of
nanoparticles to human beings increases, which raises concern about their role in vivo toxicity. This necessitates intensive research to have
knowledge of the various routes of nanoparticle exposure and their effects upon the human health. This review is an attempt to evaluate the
various modes of exposure of nanoparticles in human beings, mechanism of toxicity, their fate inside body and adverse health effects.
Key words: : nanoparticles; surface charge; aggregation; lymphatic, circulatory system and respiratory system.
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