Investigating the susceptibility of mice to a bacterial challenge after intravenous exposure to durable nanoparticles.

Abstract

The goal of this study was to determine whether bacterial clearance in a rodent model would be impaired upon exposure to gold, silver or silica nanoparticles (NPs). Mice received weekly injections of NPs followed by a challenge of Listeria monocytogenes (LM). On days 3 and 10 after LM injections, the animals were sacrificed and their tissues were collected for elemental analysis, electron microscopy and LM count determination. The untreated and NP-treated animals cleared LM at the same rate suggesting that bioaccumulation of NPs did not increase the animals' susceptibility to bacterial infection. The data from this study indicate that the bioaccumulation of NPs does not significantly affect the ability to react to a bacterial challenge.