Abstract
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are widely used in commerce, however, the effect of their physicochemical properties on toxicity remains debatable because of the confounding presence of Ag+ ions. Thus, we designed a series of AgNPs that are stable to surface oxidation and Ag+ ion release. AgNPs were coated with a hybrid lipid membrane comprised of L-phosphatidylcholine (PC), sodium oleate (SOA), and a stoichiometric amount of hexanethiol (HT) to produce oxidant-resistant AgNPs, Ag–SOA–PC–HT. The stability of 7-month aged, 20–100 nm Ag–SOA–PC–HT NPs were assessed using UV–Vis, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), while the toxicity of the nanomaterials was assessed using a well-established, 5-day embryonic zebrafish assay at concentrations ranging from 0–12 mg/L. There was no change in the size of the AgNPs from freshly made samples or 7-month aged samples and minimal Ag+ ion release (<0.2%) in fishwater (FW) up to seven days. Toxicity studies revealed AgNP size- and concentration-dependent effects. Increased mortality and sublethal morphological abnormalities were observed at higher concentrations with smaller nanoparticle sizes. This study, for the first time, determined the effect of AgNP size on toxicity in the absence of Ag+ ions as a confounding variable.
Highlights
Using a well-established procedure developed by Miesen et al to anchor membranes to AgNPs surfaces [71], a series of commercially available spherical AgNPs with diameto AgNPs surfaces [71], a series of commercially available spherical AgNPs with diameters ters ranging from 20–100 nm (Nanocomposix, San Diego, CA, USA) were coated with hyranging from 20–100 nm (Nanocomposix, San Diego, CA, USA) were coated with hybrid brid lipid membranes comprised of a mixture of sodium oleate (SOA), PC, and HT to yield Ag–SOA–PC
Lipid membranes comprised of a mixture of SOA, PC, and HT to yield Ag–SOA–PC–HT
It was found that the toxicity of the SOA–PC–HT AgNPs was both concentration and size-dependent, with smaller sizes and higher concentrations being more toxic
Summary
There are over 1400 consumer and commercial products where silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are incorporated such as food packaging materials [1,2,3], waste-water treatment [4,5], topical ointments or wound healing gels [6,7,8,9,10], coatings on medical devices such as stents to prevent biofilm formation [11,12,13], paints, and anti-reflective coatings, and fabric cleaning chemicals [14,15,16]. The use of AgNPs in these applications predominantly rests on their superior antimicrobial properties [13,17,18,19,20,21,22]. Because silver (Ag) has a strong x-ray attenuation compared to iodinated agents used in imaging, there is significant interest in using AgNPs for x-ray computed tomography imaging and other optical imaging applications [26,27,28,29,30,31]. It is expected that the increased production and use will lead to a significant accumulation of AgNPs in wastewater and the environment, potentially increasing exposure to humans [36,37,38].
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