Hemolysis of Human Erythrocytes by Argovit™ AgNPs from Healthy and Diabetic Donors: An In Vitro Study

Abstract

The use of nanomaterials is becoming increasingly widespread, leading to substantial research focused on nanomedicine. Nevertheless, the lack of complete toxicity profiles limits nanomaterials’ uses, despite their remarkable diagnostic and therapeutic results on in vitro and in vivo models. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), particularly Argovit™, have shown microbicidal, virucidal, and antitumoral effects. Among the first-line toxicity tests is the hemolysis assay. Here, the hemolytic effect of Argovit™ AgNPs on erythrocytes from one healthy donor (HDE) and one diabetic donor (DDE) is evaluated by the hemolysis assay against AgNO3. The results showed that Argovit™, in concentrations ≤24 µg/mL of metallic silver, did not show a hemolytic effect on the HDE or DDE. On the contrary, AgNO3 at the same concentration of silver ions produces more than 10% hemolysis in both the erythrocyte types. In all the experimental conditions assessed, the DDE was shown to be more prone to hemolysis than the HDE elicited by Ag+ ions or AgNPs, but much more evident with Ag+ ions. The results show that Argovit™ is the least hemolytic compared with the other twenty-two AgNP formulations previously reported, probably due to the polymer mass used to stabilize the Argovit™ formulation. The results obtained provide relevant information that contributes to obtaining a comprehensive toxicological profile to design safe and effective AgNP formulations.

A Systematic Review on Antituberculosis Drug Discovery and Antimycobacterial Potential of Biologically Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles: Overview and Future Perspectives

“…Overall, the toxicity of the fabricated AgNPs from the studies was relatively low. Similar findings were reported in some other studies 77–79 . However, at high AgNP concentrations, one study revealed serious detrimental effects, such as DNA damage, cell apoptosis and nuclear integrity degradation 39 .…”

Bell Shape Curves of Hemolysis Induced by Silver Nanoparticles: Review and Experimental Assay

“…It could be a consequence of the big difference in the hemolytic capacity of different AgNPs formulations. It is known that parameters such as size, stabilizer nature, electrical charge (ζ potential), hydrodynamic diameter, and the metallic silver molar ratio to the stabilizer, among others, influence the toxicity of AgNPs [ 23 , 24 , 26 ].…”

“…Additionally, our interest in Argovit TM has been attracted by the fact that it has low hemolytic toxicity in relation to human erythrocytes. In our previous work, it was revealed that Argovit™ possesses the lowest hemolytic capacity among 22 other AgNPs formulations [ 26 ]. However, in this work, hemolysis induced by Argovit™ AgNPs was studied in a relatively narrow concentration interval (200–800 µg/mL).…”

AgNPs Argovit™ Modulates Cyclophosphamide-Induced Genotoxicity on Peripheral Blood Erythrocytes In Vivo

“…Specifically, for those formulations coated with PVP, it was found that the higher the amount of coating polymer, the lower its hemolytic potential. The hemolysis produced by 400 µg/mL of Argovit™ on human erythrocytes is negligible, meanwhile other PVP-AgNPs formulations produce more than 5% of hemolysis with half- or ten-times lower concentrations [ 57 ]. Similarly, the metal/PVP ratio gives the Argovit™ formulation greater biocompatibility against human peripheral blood lymphocytes, compared to a formulation of AgNPs of similar size but with a lower PVP content in its coating [ 17 ].…”