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Mutagenicity of silver nanoparticles in CHO cells dependent on particle surface functionalization and metabolic activation

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Abstract

The potential of engineered nanomaterials to induce genotoxic effects is an important aspect of hazard identification. In this study, cytotoxicity and mutagenicity as a function of metabolic activation of three silver nanoparticle (AgNP) preparations differing in surface coating were determined in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) subclone K1 cells. Three silver nanoparticle preparations (x 90,0 <30 nm) stabilized with polyoxyethylene glycerol trioleate and polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate (AgPure™), citrate (Citrate-Ag), and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP-Ag) were used for the experiments. The cytotoxic effect of AgNPs was assessed with the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazoliumbromide) test using different concentrations of nanoparticles, while the mutagenicity was evaluated using the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) gene mutation assay. The cytotoxicity of all three AgNPs was lower in a cell culture medium containing 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) than in medium without FCS. The HPRT test without metabolic activation system S9 revealed that compared to the other AgNP formulations, citrate-coated Ag showed a lower genotoxic effect. However, addition of S9 increased the mutation frequency of all AgNPs and especially influenced the genotoxicity of Citrate-Ag. The results showed that exogenous metabolic activation of nanosilver is crucial even if interactions of the metabolic activation system, nanosilver, and cells are not really understood up to now.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank M. Adamiuk and the group of B. Hetzer for the preparation of PVP-silver nanoparticles and concentration measurement by atomic absorption spectrometry, P. Ferrario for statistical consultancy, H. Norman for English language editing, and J. Stärke, A. Tauer, and F. Mohr for technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Safety and Quality of Fruits and Vegetables, Max Rubner-Institut, Haid-und-Neu-Straße 9, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Claudia Guigas

  2. Department of Food Technology and Bioprocess Engineering, Max Rubner-Institut, Haid-und-Neu-Straße 9, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Elke Walz, Volker Gräf & Ralf Greiner

  3. Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Max Rubner-Institut, Hermann-Weigmann-Straße 1, 24103, Kiel, Germany

    Knut J. Heller

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  1. Claudia Guigas
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Correspondence to Claudia Guigas.

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Guigas, C., Walz, E., Gräf, V. et al. Mutagenicity of silver nanoparticles in CHO cells dependent on particle surface functionalization and metabolic activation. J Nanopart Res 19, 207 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-017-3900-0

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