Chapter 7: Endotoxin and Engineered Nanomaterials

Endotoxin is a common contaminant in engineered nanomaterial formulations and can confound the results of efficacy and toxicity studies due to its high immunostimulatory potential. There is a growing need for methods to reliably detect, quantify, and remove endotoxin from nanoformulations prior to biological studies. This chapter provides a general overview of the endotoxin structure and its mechanism of immune cell activation, review methods traditionally used for endotoxin detection and quantification, and the applicability of these methods to engineered nanomaterial formulations. We also highlight challenges associated with endotoxin detection and quantification in nanomaterial formulations, and provide practical suggestions for overcoming these challenges.