Silver acetate exposure: Effects on reproduction and post natal development

Toxicogenomic study in rat thymus of F1 generation offspring following maternal exposure to silver ion

“…In the large-scale study, no histopathological abnormalities in thymus were identified in the F1 generation pups in any of the dosing groups [16] . Combined with the observation that thymus-to-body-weight ratios were not affected ( Table 1 ), the current study suggests that in utero exposure to silver ions up to 26.0 mg/kg (equivalent to 40.0 mg/kg silver acetate) did not have an adverse effect on the developing thymus.…”

“…Table 1 summarizes the effects of silver acetate on rat thymus and body weights in the subset of F1 generation pups used in this study (the full animal dataset was previously reported by [16] ). Despite some decreases in the mean thymus and body weights in the higher dosing groups (4.0 and 40.0 mg/kg) compared with the control animals, thymus/body weight ratios were similar in all groups.…”

“…Thymus tissues were obtained from 5 male and 5 female F1 generation rat pups on postnatal day 26 in each treatment group that were randomly selected from the animals evaluated in [16] . In brief, 28-day-old male and female CD IGS VAF/+ rats were exposed ad libidum to Hydro-System water containing 0 (control), 0.4, 4.0, or 40.0 mg/kg body weight silver acetate for 10 weeks prior to mating and during the 2–3 week mating period.…”

“…The U.S. FDA evaluated data available on the use of silver mixtures as antimicrobial agents in food contact polymers and suspected that in utero exposure to silver may have an adverse effect on the immune system of the developing animal. A comprehensive study for risk assessment has been conducted in our group using a rat model and conventional toxicological and/or pathological endpoints to confirm that the previously observed adverse effects are due to silver ion alone, and to define the no observed effect level (NOEL) at or below which the adverse effect does not occur [16] .…”

“…As a component of the comprehensive research [16] , the current study used a toxicogenomic approach to study the effect of silver ions on the developing thymus at the transcriptional level by using whole-genome microarrays to study global gene expression changes in rat thymus of F1 generation offspring from dams exposed to different levels of silver ion. In the last years, some dozen reports appeared in the literature using toxicogenomics approach to study silver toxicity; however, the majority of these studies were on silver nanoparticles (AgNPs).…”