Toxicological evaluation of nano-sized colloidal silver in experiments on mice. behavioral reactions, morphology of internals

Abstract

The results of toxicity studies of nano-sized colloidal silver (NCC), the most widely used in medicine, food and life, are given. When evaluating safe doses of silver NP (using commercially available NCC solution stabilized with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), with the size of silver NP at the range of 5-80 nm) when orally administered to male mice, BALB/c mice at doses of 0.1; 1.0 and 10 mg/kg of body weight per silver different effects from the motor and orienting-exploratory activity were revealed, for the part of them the dependence on the dose of the NCC was typical. The following peculiarities were found: reduction in motor activity to reduce the frequency of activities requiring physical effort, reduction of the execution time of these actions; increasing anxiety in terms of frequency and duration of attacks of orienting-investigative activity and animals washing. Morphological examination revealed a series of tissue changes of internal organs (especially liver and spleen, to a lesser extent-kidney, heart and colon) with increase of the spectrum and severity of structural changes with increasing doses of the NCC. From the combination of the data the conclusion was made that maximal ineffective dose (NOAEL) of this nanomaterial at subacute oral administration is no more than 0.1 mg/kg body weight.

Nanomaterials in food products and their package: comparative analysis of risks and advantages

“…Various dose-dependent effects on behavioral reactions were revealed in male BALB/c mice with Open field Animal test; these effects included a decrease in frequency of actions that required physical efforts and shorter periods of time spent on such actions; greater anxiety as per parameters of frequency and duration of orientation and exploration activities and grooming. Morphological research revealed changes in liver and spleen tissues, and, to a smaller extent, heart and kidneys tissues; a range of these changes and their intensity grew together with an increase in NMs doses [29]. A similar experiment performed on male Wistar rats allowed to reveal adverse shifts under exposure to a NM dose equal to 10 mg/kg of body weight recalculated per Ag as per parameters of body weight growth, relative lungs weight, average volume of an erythrocyte, hemoglobin concentration in erythrocytes, and relative fraction of neutrophils and lymphocytes.…”