Centre for Nano Safety, School of Life Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK.
Crit Rev Toxicol. 2010 Apr;40(4):328-46. doi: 10.3109/10408440903453074.
This review is concerned with evaluating the toxicity associated with human exposure to silver and gold nanoparticles (NPs), due to the relative abundance of toxicity data available for these particles, when compared to other metal particulates. This has allowed knowledge on the current understanding of the field to be gained, and has demonstrated where gaps in knowledge are. It is anticipated that evaluating the hazards associated with silver and gold particles will ultimately enable risk assessments to be completed, by combining this information with knowledge on the level of human exposure. The quantity of available hazard information for metals is greatest for silver particulates, due to its widespread inclusion within a number of diverse products (including clothes and wound dressings), which primarily arises from its antibacterial behaviour. Gold has been used on numerous occasions to assess the biodistribution and cellular uptake of NPs following exposure. Inflammatory, oxidative, genotoxic, and cytotoxic consequences are associated with silver particulate exposure, and are inherently linked. The primary site of gold and silver particulate accumulation has been consistently demonstrated to be the liver, and it is therefore relevant that a number of in vitro investigations have focused on this potential target organ. However, in general there is a lack of in vivo and in vitro toxicity information that allows correlations between the findings to be made. Instead a focus on the tissue distribution of particles following exposure is evident within the available literature, which can be useful in directing appropriate in vitro experimentation by revealing potential target sites of toxicity. The experimental design has the potential to impact on the toxicological observations, and in particular the use of excessively high particle concentrations has been observed. As witnessed for other particle types, gold and silver particle sizes are influential in dictating the observed toxicity, with smaller particles exhibiting a greater response than their larger counterparts, and this is likely to be driven by differences in particle surface area, when administered at an equal-mass dose. A major obstacle, at present, is deciphering whether the responses related to silver nanoparticulate exposure derive from their small size, or particle dissolution contributes to the observed toxicity. Alternatively, a combination of both may be responsible, as the release of ions would be expected to be greater for smaller particles.
本综述旨在评估人类接触金银纳米粒子（NPs）所产生的毒性，因为与其他金属颗粒相比，有关这些粒子的毒性数据相对丰富。这使我们能够了解该领域的当前认识，并展示了知识的空白。人们期望通过将这些信息与人类接触水平的知识相结合，评估与银和金颗粒相关的危害，最终能够完成风险评估。由于其在许多不同产品（包括衣服和伤口敷料）中的广泛应用，主要是由于其抗菌行为，因此可获得的金属危害信息数量最多的是银颗粒。金已被多次用于评估暴露后 NPs 的生物分布和细胞摄取。与银颗粒暴露相关的炎症、氧化、遗传毒性和细胞毒性后果是内在相关的。金和银颗粒的主要蓄积部位一直被证明是肝脏，因此，许多体外研究都集中在这个潜在的靶器官上。然而，一般来说，缺乏能够使研究结果相互关联的体内和体外毒性信息。相反，在现有文献中，明显侧重于暴露后颗粒的组织分布，这对于通过揭示潜在的毒性靶位，指导适当的体外实验是有用的。实验设计有可能影响毒理学观察，特别是观察到使用过高的颗粒浓度。与其他颗粒类型一样，金和银颗粒的大小对观察到的毒性有影响，较小的颗粒比其较大的颗粒表现出更大的反应，这可能是由于在等质量剂量下，颗粒表面积的差异所致。目前的一个主要障碍是，要确定与银纳米颗粒暴露相关的反应是否源于其小尺寸，或者颗粒溶解是否导致了观察到的毒性。或者，两者都可能是原因，因为较小的颗粒预计会释放更多的离子。
