Bioaccumulation and toxicity of gold nanoparticles after repeated administration in mice

C. Lasagna-Reeves, D. Gonzalez-Romero, M. A. Barria, I. Olmedo, A. Clos, V. M. Sadagopa Ramanujam, A. Urayama, L. Vergara, M. J. Kogan, C. Soto

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

546 Scopus citations

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) offer a great promise in biomedicine. Currently, there is no data available regarding the accumulation of nanoparticles in vivo after repeated administration. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the bioaccumulation and toxic effects of different doses (40, 200, and 400 μg/kg/day) of 12.5 nm GNPs upon intraperitoneal administration in mice every day for 8 days. The gold levels in blood did not increase with the dose administered, whereas in all the organs examined there was a proportional increase on gold, indicating efficient tissue uptake. Although brain was the organ containing the lowest quantity of injected GNPs, our data suggest that GNPs are able to cross the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in the neural tissue. Importantly, no evidence of toxicity was observed in any of the diverse studies performed, including survival, behavior, animal weight, organ morphology, blood biochemistry and tissue histology. The results indicate that tissue accumulation pattern of GNPs depend on the doses administered and the accumulation of the particles does not produce sub-acute physiological damage.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)649-655
Number of pages7
JournalBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
Volume393
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 19 2010

Keywords

  • Bioaccumulation
  • Gold nanoparticles
  • Nanomedicine
  • Nanotechnology
  • Toxicology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics
  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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