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Updated: Aug 19, 2026
Whole-Body Nanoparticle Aerosol Inhalation Exposures
Published on: May 7, 2013
Comparing inhaled ultrafine versus fine zinc oxide particles in healthy adults: a human inhalation study
William S Beckett1, David F Chalupa, Andrea Pauly-Brown
1Department of Envrionmental Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box EHSC, Rochester, New York 14642, USA. bill_beckett@urmc.rochester.edu
Rationale:
Zinc oxide is a common, biologically active constituent of particulate air pollution as well as a workplace toxin. Ultrafine particles (< 0.1 microm diameter) are believed to be more potent than an equal mass of inhaled accumulation mode particles (0.1-1.0 microm diameter).
Objectives:
We compared exposure-response relationships for respiratory, hematologic, and cardiovascular endpoints between ultrafine and accumulation mode zinc oxide particles.
Methods:
In a human inhalation study, 12 healthy adults inhaled 500 microg/m3 of ultrafine zinc oxide, the same mass of fine zinc oxide, and filtered air while at rest for 2 hours.
Measurements And Main Results:
Preexposure and follow-up studies of symptoms, leukocyte surface markers, hemostasis, and cardiac electrophysiology were conducted to 24 hours post-exposure. Induced sputum was sampled 24 hours after exposure. No differences were detected between any of the three exposure conditions at this level of exposure.
Conclusions:
Freshly generated zinc oxide in the fine or ultrafine fractions inhaled by healthy subjects at rest at a concentration of 500 microg/m3 for 2 hours is below the threshold for acute systemic effects as detected by these endpoints.
