Toxicity of Silver Nanoparticles at the Air-Liquid Interface

• Published in: BioMed research international 2013-01, Vol.2013 (2013), p.1-11
• Main Authors: Holder, Amara L., Marr, Linsey C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerosols; Cell Line; Cytotoxins - adverse effects; Cytotoxins - pharmacology; Health aspects; Humans; Methods; Nanoparticles; Nanoparticles - adverse effects; Nickel - adverse effects; Nickel - pharmacology; Oxides - adverse effects; Oxides - pharmacology; Silver; Silver - adverse effects; Silver - pharmacology; Silver Compounds - adverse effects; Silver Compounds - pharmacology; Testing; Toxicity testing
• ISSN: 2314-6133; 2314-6141
• DOI: 10.1155/2013/328934

Silver nanoparticles are one of the most prevalent nanomaterials in consumer products. Some of these products are likely to be aerosolized, making silver nanoparticles a high priority for inhalation toxicity assessment. To study the inhalation toxicity of silver nanoparticles, we have exposed cultured lung cells to them at the air-liquid interface. Cells were exposed to suspensions of silver or nickel oxide (positive control) nanoparticles at concentrations of 2.6, 6.6, and 13.2 μg cm−2 (volume concentrations of 10, 25, and 50 μg ml−1) and to 0.7 μg cm−2 silver or 2.1 μg cm−2 nickel oxide aerosol at the air-liquid interface. Unlike a number of in vitro studies employing suspensions of silver nanoparticles, which have shown strong toxic effects, both suspensions and aerosolized nanoparticles caused negligible cytotoxicity and only a mild inflammatory response, in agreement with animal exposures. Additionally, we have developed a novel method using a differential mobility analyzer to select aerosolized nanoparticles of a single diameter to assess the size-dependent toxicity of silver nanoparticles.