IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF METALLIC NANOPARTICLES: A STUDY OF NEUROTOXICITY IN MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS PATIENTS

• Grant number: 17/20032-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Noronha Lisboa Filho
• Grantee: Marcela de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências (FC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07296-2 - CDMF - Center for the Development of Functional Materials, AP.CEPID
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/16362-5 - Detection and quantification of encephal lesions in magnetic resonance imaging of multiple sclerosis patients, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neuro-inflammatory and neuro-degenerative disease resulting in damage to the myelination process of neurons. Currently, it is estimated that MS affects 35,000 Brazilians and 2.5 million individuals worldwide, being a great concern to the health sector. Even though it is a neuro-degenerative disease that involves progressive neuronal and functional loss, little is known about the causes of multiple sclerosis. Though, studies show that it is possibly arising from a combination of genetic, environmental and infectious factors to trigger the inflammatory process.Exposure to metals can be considered as an external agent, presenting a toxicity that can trigger the inflammatory process. In general, population is exposed to metal under nanoparticle (NPs) form, presented in air in current, cosmetical and foodal ambiances. Because of their small size, metallic NPs have the potential to penetrate the human body by inhalation, injection or epithelial penetration eventually crossing the blood brain barrier and potentially causing neurotoxicity and neurodegeneration of the central nervous system. Radiologically, areas where demyelination may occur can be observed over cranial, magnetic resonance imaging. Literature data show new techniques in the visual detection of sclerotic lesions, but it still is needed to quantify the multiple sclerosis affected area. It is utmostly important to perform further evaluations to analyze the possible toxicity of the nanometals present in blood samples and the lesions observed in the MRI images of patients with multiple sclerosis.Thus, this research mainly object the identification and characterization of metallic nanoparticles to evaluate their toxicity in multiple sclerosis patients. By two analytical techniques: spectroscopy of optical emission with individually coupled plasma and microspectroscopy of the Fourier Transform, we will be able to identify and caracterize the metallic NPs present in blood samples of patients with multiple sclerosis. In addition to this evaluation, with development of a brain simulator object and a computer program in MatLab, it will be possible to evaluate and quantify the NPs present in MRI imagens and to find out what their limits of detection are in this type image.

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DE OLIVEIRA, MARCELA; PIACENTI-SILVA, MARINA; DA ROCHA, FERNANDO CORONETTI GOMES; SANTOS, JORGE MANUEL; CARDOSO, JAIME DOS SANTOS; LISBOA-FILHO, PAULO NORONHA. esion Volume Quantification Using Two Convolutional Neural Networks in MRIs of Multiple Sclerosis Patient. IAGNOSTIC, v. 12, n. 2, FEB 2022. (19/16362-5, 17/20032-5)

DE OLIVEIRA, MARCELA; SANTINELLI, FELIPE BALISTIERI; PIACENTI-SILVA, MARINA; GOMES ROCHA, FERNANDO CORONETTI; BARBIERI, FABIO AUGUSTO; LISBOA-FILHO, PAULO NORONHA; SANTOS, JORGE MANUEL; CARDOSO, JAIME DOS SANTOS; PARK, T; CHO, YR; et al. Quantification of Brain Lesions in Multiple Sclerosis Patients using Segmentation by Convolutional Neural Networks. 2020 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BIOINFORMATICS AND BIOMEDICINE, v. N/A, p. 4-pg., 2020-01-01. (17/20032-5, 19/16362-5)

DE OLIVEIRA, MARCELA; SANTINELLI, FELIPE BALISTIERI; LISBOA-FILHO, PAULO NORONHA; BARBIERI, FABIO AUGUSTO. The Blood Concentration of Metallic Nanoparticles Is Related to Cognitive Performance in People with Multiple Sclerosis: An Exploratory Analysis. BIOMEDICINES, v. 11, n. 7, p. 11-pg., 2023-07-01. (18/18078-0, 17/20032-5)

DE OLIVEIRA, MARCELA; RIBEIRO GIANETI, THIAGO MARCELO; GOMES DA ROCHA, FERNANDO CORONETTI; LISBOA-FILHO, PAULO NORONHA; PIACENTI-SILVA, MARINA. A preliminary study of the concentration of metallic elements in the blood of patients with multiple sclerosis as measured by ICP-MS. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v. 10, n. 1, AUG 4 2020. (17/20032-5, 15/22864-2)