Stable suspensions of nanogold (NG) and nanosilver (NS) with mean particle diameter 50 and 49 nm, respectively, were prepared by laser ablation of metals in water. To assess rat’s pulmonary phagocytosis response to a single intratracheal instillation of these suspensions, we used optical, transmission electron, and semi-contact atomic force microscopy. NG and NS were also repeatedly injected intraperitoneally into rats at a dose of 10 mg/kg (0.5 mg per mL of deionized water) three times a week, up to 20 injections. A group of rats was thus injected with NS after oral administration of a “bioprotective complex” (BPC) comprised of pectin, multivitamins, some amino acids, calcium, selenium, and omega-3 PUFA. After the termination of the injections, many functional and biochemical indices and histopathological features of the spleen, kidneys and liver were evaluated for signs of toxicity, and accumulation of NG or NS in these organs was measured. From the same rats, we obtained cell suspensions of different tissues for performing the RAPD test. It was demonstrated that, although both nanometals were adversely bioactive in all respects considered in this study, NS was more noxious as compared with NG, and that the BPC tested by us attenuated both the toxicity and genotoxicity of NS.

In the copper metallurgy workplace air is polluted with condensation aerosols, which a significant fraction of is presented by copper oxide particles <100 nm. In the scientific literature, there is a lack of their in vivo toxicity characterization and virtually no attempts of enhancing organism’s resistance to their impact. A stable suspension of copper oxide particles with mean (±SD) diameter 20 ± 10 nm was prepared by laser ablation of pure copper in water. It was being injected intraperitoneally to rats at a dose of 10 mg/kg (0.5 mg per mL of deionized water) three times a week up to 19 injections. In parallel, another group of rats was so injected with the same suspension against the background of oral administration of a “bio-protective complex” (BPC) comprising pectin, a multivitamin-multimineral preparation, some amino acids and fish oil rich in ω-3 PUFA. After the termination of injections, many functional and biochemical indices for the organism’s status, as well as pathological changes of liver, spleen, kidneys, and brain microscopic structure were evaluated for signs of toxicity. In the same organs we have measured accumulation of copper while their cells were used for performing the Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) test for DNA fragmentation. The same features were assessed in control rats infected intraperitoneally with water with or without administration of the BPC. The copper oxide nanoparticles proved adversely bio-active in all respects considered in this study, their active in vivo solubilization in biological fluids playing presumably an important role in both toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics. The BPC proposed and tested by us attenuated systemic and target organs toxicity, as well as genotoxicity of this substance. Judging by experimental data obtained in this investigation, occupational exposures to nano-scale copper oxide particles can present a significant health risk while the further search for its management with the help of innocuous bioprotectors seems to be justified.

Rats were exposed to nickel oxide nanoparticles (NiO-NP) inhalation at 0.23 ± 0.01 mg/m3 for 4 h a day 5 times a week for up to 10 months. The rat organism responded to this impact with changes in cytological and some biochemical characteristics of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid along with a paradoxically little pronounced pulmonary pathology associated with a rather low chronic retention of nanoparticles in the lungs. There were various manifestations of systemic toxicity, including damage to the liver and kidneys; a likely allergic syndrome as indicated by some cytological signs; transient stimulation of erythropoiesis; and penetration of nickel into the brain from the nasal mucous membrane along the olfactory pathway. Against a picture of mild to moderate chronic toxicity of nickel, its in vivo genotoxic effect assessed by the degree of DNA fragmentation in nucleated blood cells (the RAPD test) was pronounced, tending to increasing with the length of the exposure period. When rats were given orally, in parallel with the toxic exposure, a set of innocuous substances with differing mechanisms of expected bioprotective action, the genotoxic effect of NiO-NPs was found to be substantially attenuated.

The article presents in an experiment obtained principal results based on repeated low-level inhalation exposures of laboratory animals (white rats, outbred) to nickel oxide nanoparticles with a diameter of (23 ± 5) nm, 4 hours a day, 5 times a week for up to 10 months in a «nose only» installation. It was shown that non-specific body reactions to the action of NiO NPs include: diverse manifestations of systemic toxicity with a particularly pronounced influence on liver and kidney function, redox balance, damage to some areas of brain tissue, associated with proven movement of the nanoparticles themselves from the nasal mucosa along the olfactory tract; some cytological signs of probable development for allergic syndrome; paradoxically low severity of pulmonary pathology by pneumoconiotic type explained by a small chronic delay of nanoparticles in the lungs; the genotoxic effect of the organismal level, even at those low levels of chronic exposure, at which systemic toxicity is rather poorly. Along with that, NiO NPs also induce phase-stimulation of erythropoiesis, which is relatively specific for the toxic nickel effects.

Rats were exposed to nickel oxide nano-aerosol at a concentration of 2.4 ± 0.4 µg/m3 in a “nose only” inhalation setup for 4 h at a time, 5 times a week, during an overall period of 2 weeks to 6 months. Based on the majority of the effects assessed, this kind of exposure may be considered as close to LOAEL (lowest observed adverse effect level), or even to NOAEL (no observed adverse effect level). At the same time, the experiment revealed genotoxic and allergic effects as early as in the first weeks of exposure, suggesting that these effects may have no threshold at all.