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A study of the effects of citrate-coated silver nanoparticles on RAW 264.7 cells using a toolbox of cytotoxic endpoints

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Abstract

Citrate-coated silver nanoparticles (citrate-AgNPs) are among the most commonly used nanomaterials, widely present in industrial and biomedical products. In this study, the cytotoxicity of 30-nm citrate-AgNPs on the macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 was evaluated, using a battery of cytotoxicity endpoints (viability, oxidative stress, and cytostaticity/clastogenicity), at 24 and 48 h of exposure. Citrate-AgNPs decreased cell proliferation and viability only at 75 μg/mL, suggesting a low sensitivity of RAW cells to lower doses of these AgNPs. After 24 h of exposure, ROS content decreased in cells exposed to 60 μg/mL AgNPs (IC20 value), corroborating the high tolerance of these cells to citrate-AgNPs. However, these cells suffered an impairment of the cell cycle, shown by an increase at the sub-G1 phase. This increase of the sub-G1 population was correlated with an increase of DNA fragmentation, suggesting an increase of apoptosis. Thus, our data are important to understand the effects of low concentrations (IC20) of citrate-AgNPs on in vitro vital macrophage functions.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been funded by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) through the Competitive Factors Thematic Operational Programme (COMPETE) and by National Funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), under the projects CICECO—FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-037271 (Refª. FCT PEst-C/CTM/LA0011/2013) and FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-021456 (Refª. FCT PTDC/SAU-TOX/120953/2010). The grants awarded by FCT to V.B. (SFRH/BD/81792/2011) and H.O. (SFRH/BPD/111736/2015) are also acknowledged. I.F.D acknowledges FCT/MCTES for a research contract under the Program “Investigador FCT” 2014.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CESAM, Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    V. Bastos, C. Santos & H. Oliveira

  2. CICECO—Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    I. F. Duarte

  3. Department of Biology, University of Porto, 469-007, Rua Campo Alegre, Porto, Portugal

    C. Santos

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  1. V. Bastos
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Correspondence to C. Santos or H. Oliveira.

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Bastos, V., Duarte, I.F., Santos, C. et al. A study of the effects of citrate-coated silver nanoparticles on RAW 264.7 cells using a toolbox of cytotoxic endpoints. J Nanopart Res 19, 163 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-017-3855-1

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