Nanoparticles containing iron could be toxic for nerve cells and may even interfere with signal transmitting extensions formation. Iron is considered healthy for human beings and even iron oxide nanoparticles were thought to be good for human health but some recent reports have pointed out that nanoparticles might be turn out to be toxic for some cell types. If this turns out to be true then progress of nanotechnology could suffer a serious setback. As a part of the studies UCSD researchers exposed PC12 cells to high concentrations of iron oxide nanoparticles along with nerve growth factor and found out that a number of cells died and the ones which survived showed reduced ability for producing neurites. This research will surely result in a heated debate as to whether nanotechnology is safe enough and why enough studies aren’t being conducted before adopting it wholly. Via nanowerk