A study of nanosilver dermal toxicity in mice balb/c

As a result of growing applications of manufactured nanoparticles, there is an increasing concern about possible side effects of exposure to these materials on human and environment. Nanosilver (n-Ag) has found wide use in medical applications including development of silver-based dressings and silver coated medical devices. However, toxicity of these particles resulted from dermal use has not been fully identified. In this study, we analyzed the potential dermal toxicity of n-Ag bandage (100 μg/mL) over a period of 3 and 7 days in mice balb/c. Silver nitrate bandage (100 μg/mL) was applied in the positive control group. We found no cutaneous inflammatory responses such as erythemia and/or eschar for n-Ag. However, exposure to these nanoparticles resulted in considerable increase of hepatic necrosis biomarkers viz. ALT and AST. On the other hand, TGF-beta1 levels, an anti-inflammatory biomarker was found to be decreased significantly in mice blood sera following application of n-Ag bandage. No mortality was observed in n-Ag treated groups. Also, differences between n-Ag treated groups and positive control in hepatic and anti inflammatory biomarkers was found to be significant. Briefly, our results reveal that dermal application of n-Ag does not lead to any external changes and observable inflammatory responses in animal skin. However, it can alter the level of some biomarkers related to liver function in blood serum of samples.