Inhalation toxicology refers to the route of exposure whereby an inhaled substance can cause direct local toxicity to the airways or exert their action systemically following absorption and metabolism. Assessing the inhalation safety of substances is applicable to many sectors producing new products with intended or inadvertent inhaled exposure (e.g. pharmaceutical, chemical, environmental, consumer products). Limitations with current tools and approaches to assessing inhalation safety prevent a high proportion of these products ever making it to market due to preclinical safety concerns in animals, despite not understanding the relevance of these responses in humans.

Assessing the safety of substances in the lungs requires in depth knowledge of the properties of the inhaled aerosol, deposition within the lungs, interaction with biological barriers and the innate immune system and translation of these events to human safety. As such, advancements in inhalation toxicology rely on interdisciplinary research between the interfaces of the biological and physical sciences. Assessing the inhalation safety of substances applicable to many areas which traditionally have used different approaches (e.g. pharmaceutical, chemical, environmental, consumer products).
However, the challenges of providing relevant dosing, replicating exposure, categorizing adaptive and adverse responses and applicability of human relevant inhalation risk assessment remain a challenge to all sectors. This research topic aims to explore new approaches and technologies within inhalation toxicity and other related fundamental research including aerosol characterisation which have the potential to answer the unmet needs within safety assessment.

- Inhalation dosimetry

- Aerosol science within inhalation

- New approach methodologies for inhalation toxicity

- In vitro-in vivo correlation

- Particle-lung interactions

- Physical characterization of inhaled particle properties

- Retention of inhaled products and local pharmacokinetics

- Mucus/surfactant interactions with inhalants

- Immunological response of the airways

- Understanding/characterizing the mechanistic pathways of response to inhaled stimuli

- Interpretation of inhalation toxicity studies for human relevant safety assessment

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Frontiers in Toxicology

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