Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) containing consumer products have increasingly emerged in the market because of their potential antibacterial property, which might result in increased human exposure and environmental contamination. AgNPs are toxic to mammalian and other cells but the determinants of this toxicity remain to be fully characterised and the potential impact of DNA repair systems has been poorly explored. This study, therefore, examined to what extent the size and shape of synthesised AgNPs determined AgNP toxicity in DNA repair proficient and deficient (8-oxoguanine DNAglycosylase; WT and OGG1-/-, respectively) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) as well as a well-known human cell line used in the toxicity testing, HepG2 cells. Citrate-stabilised spherical- and triangular-shaped AgNPs (S-AgNPs andT-AgNPs, respectively) were synthesised chemically from AgNO3 using combinations of NaBH4 and sodium citrate as a reducing and stabilising agent, respectively, and purified by dialysis. Three different sized S-AgNPs were prepared with diameters of 7.6 ± 1.2, 14.3 ± 4.2, and 52.5 ± 17.9 nm as measured using transmission electron microscope (TEM), and their zeta potentials were -36.1±2.7, -39.5±2.7 and -36.7±4.1 mV, respectively. T-AgNPs had an edge length and thickness of 71.4 ± 11.1 nm and 5.7 ± 0.8 nm, respectively. The size and zeta potential of the purified AgNPs were constant in distilled water for at least 6 months. The uptake of both S- and T-AgNPs by cells resulted in a time and dose-dependent increase in the number of cellular AgNPs and the amount of Ag+ released intracellularly. These increases were associated with a decrease in cell viability (as measured using the MTT assay) and cell survival (the clonogenic assay), and an induction in ROS generation (the DCF assay) and DNA damage(the alkaline Comet assay) for all three cell lines. AgNPs were observed in cells using TEM, suggesting the uptake of AgNPs via an endocytosis pathway. Results suggested that an increase in cellular AgNP level and intracellular released Ag+ content were associated with a time and dose-dependent toxicity. Interestingly, cellular AgNP level and intracellular released Ag+ content might play an important role in size-dependent AgNP toxicity, in which exposure to the smaller S-AgNP sizes (7nm and 14nm) resulted in higher levels of both cellular AgNPs and Ag+ released intracellularly, and then to increased toxicity when compared with the larger S-AgNP size (50nm). Moreover, different shaped AgNPs might induce toxicity by different mechanisms: ROS-mediated toxicity might be induced by both 70nm T-AgNPs and 50nm S-AgNPs and 70nm T-AgNPs might also induce cell membrane damage. AgNP-induced toxicity was different in different cell lines with HepG2 cells being more sensitive to AgNPs particularly using the clonogenic assay, and this toxicity was associated with higher DNA damage observed in HepG2 cells after 24 h. OGG1-/- MEFs were more sensitive to intracellular released Ag+, leading to higher ROS formation and DNA damage in OGG1-/- MEFs than that observed in WT MEFs. In summary, this study strongly suggests that AgNPs induce toxicity via a Trojan-horse type mechanism, and not only Ag+ released intracellularly but also cellular AgNPs take part in this toxicity, and will eventually result in the biological responses of the cells.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:644468 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Promtong, Pawika |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/determinants-of-silver-nanoparticle-toxicity(5b09211a-35b6-4f8c-8677-a76f652494b3).html |
Page generated in 0.0022 seconds