New Relevant Descriptor of Linear QNAR Models for Toxicity Assessment of Silver Nanoparticles

Abstract

The use of silver nanoparticles (NPs) in medical, industrial and agricultural fields is becoming more widespread every year. This leads to an increasing number of experimental toxicological and microbiological studies of silver NPs aimed at establishing the risk–benefit ratio for their application. The following key parameters affecting the biological activity of silver dispersions are traditionally taken into consideration: mean diameter of NPs, surface potential of NPs and equilibrium concentration of Ag+. These characteristics are mainly predetermined by the chemical nature of the capping agent used for stabilization. However, the extent to which they influence the biological activity and the toxicity of silver NPs varies greatly. In this work, dispersions of silver NPs stabilized with a wide array of substances of different chemical nature were used for quantitative evaluation of whether the various measurable properties of silver NPs fit as descriptors of linear QNAR (quantitative nanostructure–activity relationship) models for silver NP toxicity evaluation with respect to a model eukaryotic microorganism—Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cells. It was shown that among the factors that determine silver NP toxicity, the charge of particles, their colloidal stability and the ability to generate Ag+ ions carry more importance than the descriptors related to the particle size. A significant synergistic effect between the ζ-potential and the colloidal stability of silver NPs on their toxicity was also discovered. Following this, a new descriptor has been proposed for the integral characterization of the silver dispersion colloidal stability. According to the obtained data, it can be considered applicable for building QNAR models of higher efficacy. The validity testing of the proposed model for theoretical prediction of silver NP toxicity using a wide range of living organisms has shown that this new descriptor correlates with toxicity much better compared to most traditionally used descriptors. Consequently, it seems promising in terms of being used not only in situations involving the rather narrow array of the objects tested, but also for the construction of silver NP toxicity models with respect to other living organisms.

Porphyrin Centered Paclitaxel Tetrameric Prodrug Nanoassemblies as Tumor‐Selective Theranostics for Synergized Breast Cancer Therapy

“…ζ ‐potential is considered as a stability indicator, meaning the greater of absolute ζ ‐potential is, the more stable of NPs in aqueous solution. [ 37 ] Unfortunately, our as‐prepared NPs’ low absolute ζ ‐potential implied high likelihood of aggregation, hence bare prodrug NPs were coated with diblock copolymer DSPE‐PEG to increase their stability. In addition, to append the NPs targeting feature, RGD fragment which was believed to bind with integrin [ 30 ] was integrated into the copolymer to get THPP‐(S‐S‐PTX) 4 @DSPE‐PEG‐RGD NPs whose size is almost identical to bare prodrug's nanoformulation, featured by morphology (Figure 1A) and distribution of particles (Figure 1B), but increased stability, demonstrated as the unchanged particle size and PDI within 7 days (Figure S14, Supporting Information).…”

Silver Nanoparticles (AgNPs) in Urea Solution in Laboratory Tests and Field Experiments with Crops and Vegetables

“…In addition to their bactericidal and fungicidal activity, AgNPs can also directly affect plant growth and development processes, just as fertilisers or biostimulants do. The positive and negative effects alike of AgNPs on the growth of crops-from germination, through physiological processes to conditioning yield size and quality-have been well documented in the scientific literature [30,31].…”

In Vivo Study of Entero- and Hepatotoxicity of Silver Nanoparticles Stabilized with Benzyldimethyl-[3-myristoylamine)-propyl]ammonium Chloride (Miramistin) to CBF1 Mice upon Enteral Administration

“…BAC is a well-known active ingredient used in many antiseptic medicines. It was assumed that modification of the AgNPs surface with a cationic surfactant displaying no toxicity against mammal cells [ 40 , 41 ], and possessing antibacterial properties [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ] would produce a highly effective antibacterial agent containing small-diameter AgNPs with the positive surface charge that would require no additional surface modification or purification [ 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ]. During in vitro experiments we confirmed high effectiveness of AgNPs-BAC.…”