Size dependent translocation and fetal accumulation of gold nanoparticles from maternal blood in the rat

• Published in: Particle and fibre toxicology 2014-09, Vol.11 (1), p.33-33, Article 33
• Main Authors: Semmler-Behnke, Manuela, Lipka, Jens, Wenk, Alexander, Hirn, Stephanie, Schäffler, Martin, Tian, Furong, Schmid, Günter, Oberdörster, Günter, Kreyling, Wolfgang G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amniotic Fluid - chemistry; Animals; Barriers; Blood; Channels; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug dosages; Environmental health; Extraembryonic Membranes - metabolism; Female; Fetus - chemistry; Fetus - metabolism; Fetuses; Food safety; Gestation; Gold; Gold - administration & dosage; Gold - analysis; Gold - chemistry; Gold - toxicity; Gold Radioisotopes; Injections, Intravenous; Maternal Exposure; Maternal-Fetal Exchange; Metal Nanoparticles - administration & dosage; Metal Nanoparticles - analysis; Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry; Metal Nanoparticles - toxicity; Models, Biological; Outdoor air quality; Particle Size; Placenta; Placenta - metabolism; Pregnancy; Radioactivity; Random Allocation; Rats; Rats, Inbred WKY; Tissue Distribution; Toxicokinetics; Translocation; Transport; Uterus; Uterus - chemistry; Uterus - metabolism; Variance analysis
• ISSN: 1743-8977; 1743-8977
• DOI: 10.1186/s12989-014-0033-9

There is evidence that nanoparticles (NP) cross epithelial and endothelial body barriers. We hypothesized that gold (Au) NP, once in the blood circulation of pregnant rats, will cross the placental barrier during pregnancy size-dependently and accumulate in the fetal organism by 1. transcellular transport across the hemochorial placenta, 2. transcellular transport across amniotic membranes 3. transport through ~20 nm wide transtrophoblastic channels in a size dependent manner. The three AuNP sizes used to test this hypothesis are either well below, or of similar size or well above the diameters of the transtrophoblastic channels. We intravenously injected monodisperse, negatively charged, radio-labelled 1.4 nm, 18 nm and 80 nm ¹⁹⁸AuNP at a mass dose of 5, 3 and 27 μg/rat, respectively, into pregnant rats on day 18 of gestation and in non-pregnant control rats and studied the biodistribution in a quantitative manner based on the radio-analysis of the stably labelled ¹⁹⁸AuNP after 24 hours. We observed significant biokinetic differences between pregnant and non-pregnant rats. AuNP fractions in the uterus of pregnant rats were at least one order of magnitude higher for each particle size roughly proportional to the enlarged size and weight of the pregnant uterus. All three sizes of ¹⁹⁸AuNP were found in the placentas and amniotic fluids with 1.4 nm AuNP fractions being two orders of magnitude higher than those of the larger AuNP on a mass base. In the fetuses, only fractions of 0.0006 (30 ng) and 0.00004 (0.1 ng) of 1.4 nm and 18 nm AuNP, respectively, were detected, but no 80 nm AuNP (