Zeolites and other porous material in the toxicity of inhaled mineral dust

Some   porous   materials, typically fibrous erionite, are toxic per se.  Others may be used as  “model   solids ”  to  mimic   real pathogenic   minerals.  It has been hypothesized that erionite catalyses free radical generation which damage  DNA. Erionite released  OH”  only  when  incubated  with  ferric  iron.  Iron  mobility  in  asbestos  has  been  studied  by  means   of  cyclic  voltammetry.  Ferrosilicalite  and  one  Fe -Y  zeolite  were  “model   solids ”   for  iron  mobility.  Porosils  have  been employed  in  the  study  of   silica  cytotoxicity.

Cell  growth  inhibition  correlates with  the  outer  surface,  measured from  particle  morphology,  but  not  with  the  BET  surface,  suggesting  particle-cell  contact  as  a  primary  step  in  cell  growth  inhibition.  MCM-41  with  spin  active  labels,  in  contact  with  cells,  acted  as  a  sensor  of   phagocytois,   the  activenitroxide  being quenched  by cell generated  oxidant.

Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167299101813057