Refinement of the selection of Physicochemical Properties for Grouping and Read-Across of Nanoforms

Before placing a new nanoform (NF), possibly integrated into a nano-enabled product, onto the market it is essential to evaluate its potential adverse effects, e.g. via hazard and risk assessment. Grouping and read-across of NFs has been shown to be a possible strategy to reduce the consumption of resources, making the most of existing data and improving the efficiency of risk assessment of NFs. The GRACIOUS project provides a framework in which the applicability of grouping and read-across for NFs is mainly based on an evaluation of the similarity of NFs. The NFs’ impact on human health and the environment is strongly dependent on the NF physicochemical properties, such as chemical composition, size distribution, shape, etc., and hence knowledge of the most relevant physicochemical properties against which to compare similarity is essential information. The aim of this presented work is to refine existing proposals for sets of descriptors (descriptor array) that are needed to describe distinct NFs of a material to identify those which are most relevant for grouping and read-across approaches. To this end, the selection criteria for refining the descriptor array of physicochemical properties of most relevance for grouping different nanoforms is explained and demonstrated. For each physicochemical property the relevant protocols and methods are summarised in terms of available resources and an indication of their respective technology readiness level. Finally, the refined descriptor array is reviewed with regard to required and achievable measurement accuracy, necessary elements when considering similarity assessment of different nanoforms on the basis of individual physicochemical properties.

LOOSLI Frederic;  RASMUSSEN Kirsten;  RAUSCHER Hubert;  CROSS Richard;  BOSSA Nathan;  PEIJNENBURG Willie;  ARTS Josje;  MATZKE Marianne;  SVENDSEN Claus;  SPURGEON David;  CLAUSEN Per Axel;  RUGGIERO Emmanuel;  WOHLLEBEN Wendel;  VON DER KAMMER Frank; 

2022-01-07

ELSEVIER

JRC126623

2452-0748 (online),   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC126623,   

10.1016/j.impact.2021.100375 (online),