Plastics zijn overal. In de bodem, de lucht, water en voedsel. Plastic valt uit elkaar in kleine en nog kleinere deeltjes – micro- en nanoplastics – die we met het blote oog niet kunnen zien. Ze komen terecht in onze organen en ons bloed. Hoe schadelijk is dat? Een gesprek met drie experts. Lees het…

In our recent article, we present in vitro data on the neurotoxic effects and potency of possible aircraft cabin air contamination deriving from engine oils and hydraulic fluids. For this work, we exposed rat primary cortical cells cultured on micro-electrode arrays to the fumes derived from selected engine oils and hydraulic fluids and monitored changes…

Emma Kasteel en Annemijne van den Berg waren te gast bij ”De Nacht van…” op Radio 1! Er is een onderzoek dat zegt dat we een creditcard aan microplastics binnenkrijgen. We weten alleen niet precies hoeveel microplastics we als mens binnenkrijgen. Het is in elk geval wel meer dan we denken. Wat we in elk…

Great news, a few weeks ago our new paper “Acute, sub-chronic and chronic exposures to TiO2 and Ag nanoparticles differentially affects neuronal function in vitro” has been published in NeuroToxicology. In this work, we studied the neurotoxicity of silver and titanium dioxide nanoparticles using calcium imaging, micro-electrode array recordings and immunocytochemistry. While titanium dioxide nanoparticles…

Emma Kasteel, Jack Thornton, and Lora Gerber enjoyed presenting their data at the Annual Society of Toxicology (SOT) meeting! Lots of attention for their work on the neurotoxic effects of respectively micro- and nanoplastics, designer drugs, and air pollution. Job well done!

In collaboration with the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology (Maastricht University) and the Office for Risk Assessment and Research (Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority) we investigated the interaction of Tetrodotoxin (TTX) with pharmaceutical drugs known to also inhibit voltage-gated sodium (NaV) channels. We provide concentration-effect curves for inhibition of neuronal activity by TTX…

Join us in congratulating Axion Travel Award recipient Emma Kasteel!​ We are pleased to offer this award to support the important work being done by Emma and her team at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University. Their study utilizing mice and rat primary cortical cultures showed that some types, sizes, and shapes of micro and…

Het EU-verbod op microplastics in make-up laat nog jaren op zich wachten. Maar studies wijzen op het gevaar van de deeltjes, zegt toxicoloog Emma Kasteel. “De eerste aanwijzing is dat ze ontstekingen veroorzaken en effect hebben op de hormoonhuishouding.”

We are happy to announce that our paper, titled ‘Organophosphate insecticides disturb neuronal network development and function via non-AChE mediated mechanisms’ has been published in NeuroToxicology! Here, we studied the effects of exposure to two widely used insecticides, chlorpyrifos and diazinon, and their -oxon metabolites. Our results show that these compounds can affect neuronal activity…

We are pleased to tell you that a shared paper from our group, titled ‘Culture of Rat Primary Cortical Cells for Microelectrode Array Recordings to Screen for Acute and Developmental Neurotoxicity’ has been published in Current Protocols in Toxicology! In this paper we provide a detailed protocol on the main method we use in the Neurotoxicology…