Institute of Polymer Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Nanotechnology. 2012 Feb 17;23(6):065102. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/23/6/065102.
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are known for their excellent antibacterial activities. The possible toxicity, however, is a major concern for their applications. Three types of AgNPs were prepared in this study by chemical processes. Each was stabilized by a polymer surfactant, which was expected to reduce the exposure of cells to AgNPs and therefore their cytotoxicity. The polymer stabilizers included poly(oxyethylene)-segmented imide (POEM), poly(styrene-co-maleic anhydride)-grafting poly(oxyalkylene) (SMA) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The cytotoxicity of these chemically produced AgNPs to mouse skin fibroblasts (L929), human hepatocarcinoma cells (HepG2), and mouse monocyte macrophages (J774A1) was compared to that of physically produced AgNPs and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as well as the standard reference material RM8011 AuNPs. Results showed that SMA-AgNPs were the least cytotoxic among all materials, but cytotoxicity was still observed at higher silver concentrations (>30 ppm). Macrophages demonstrated the inflammatory response with cell size increase and viability decrease upon exposure to 10 ppm of the chemically produced AgNPs. SMA-AgNPs did not induce hemolysis at a silver concentration below 1.5 ppm. Regarding the antibacterial activity, POEM-AgNPs and SMA-AgNPs at 1 ppm silver content showed 99.9% and 99.3% growth inhibition against E. coli, while PVA-AgNPs at the same silver concentration displayed 79.1% inhibition. Overall, SMA-AgNPs demonstrated better safety in vitro and greater antibacterial effects than POEM-AgNPs and PVA-AgNPs. This study suggested that polymer stabilizers may play an important role in determining the toxicity of AgNPs.
银纳米粒子（AgNPs）以其优异的抗菌活性而闻名。然而，其潜在的毒性是其应用的主要关注点。本研究通过化学过程制备了三种类型的 AgNPs。每种 AgNPs 都由聚合物表面活性剂稳定，这有望减少细胞暴露于 AgNPs 的程度，从而降低其细胞毒性。聚合物稳定剂包括聚（氧乙烯）-分段酰亚胺（POEM）、聚（苯乙烯-共-马来酸酐）-接枝聚（氧亚烷基）（SMA）和聚乙烯醇（PVA）。将这些化学合成的 AgNPs 对小鼠皮肤成纤维细胞（L929）、人肝癌细胞（HepG2）和小鼠单核巨噬细胞（J774A1）的细胞毒性与物理合成的 AgNPs 和金纳米粒子（AuNPs）以及标准参考物质 RM8011 AuNPs 进行了比较。结果表明，SMA-AgNPs 在所有材料中细胞毒性最小，但在较高的银浓度（>30ppm）下仍观察到细胞毒性。暴露于 10ppm 化学合成的 AgNPs 后，巨噬细胞表现出细胞体积增大和活力降低的炎症反应。SMA-AgNPs 在低于 1.5ppm 的银浓度下不会引起溶血。关于抗菌活性，POEM-AgNPs 和 SMA-AgNPs 在 1ppm 银含量下对大肠杆菌的抑制率分别达到 99.9%和 99.3%，而 PVA-AgNPs 在相同的银浓度下显示出 79.1%的抑制率。总的来说，SMA-AgNPs 在体外表现出更好的安全性和更强的抗菌效果，优于 POEM-AgNPs 和 PVA-AgNPs。本研究表明，聚合物稳定剂可能在确定 AgNPs 的毒性方面发挥重要作用。
