Hepatic Hazard Assessment of Silver Nanoparticle Exposure in Healthy and Chronically Alcohol Fed Mice

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DOI

  • Ali Kermanizadeh
    University of Copenhagen
  • Nicklas R Jacobsen
    National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen
  • Martin Roursgaard
    University of Copenhagen
  • Steffen Loft
    University of Copenhagen
  • Peter Møller
    University of Copenhagen

Silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) are currently among one of the most widely used nanomaterials. This in turn, implies an increased risk of human and environmental exposure. Alcohol abuse is a global issue with millions of people in the general population affected by the associated adverse effects. The excessive consumption of alcohol is a prominent cause of chronic liver disease which manifest in multiple disorders. In this study, the adverse health effects of Ag NP exposure were investigated in models of alcoholic hepatic disease in vitro and in vivo. The data showed that Ag NP induced hepatic health effects were aggravated in the alcohol pretreated mice in comparison to controls with regards to an organ specific inflammatory response, changes in blood biochemistry, acute phase response and hepatic pathology. In addition, alcoholic disease influenced the organ's ability for recovery post-NP challenge. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the in vivo data correlated well with in vitro findings where ethanol pretreatment of hepatocytes resulted in significantly increased inflammatory response post-Ag NP exposure. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study of its kind to investigate nano-sized material-induced hepatic pathology in models representative of susceptible individuals (those with pre-existing alcohol liver disease) within the population. This is an area of research in the field of nanotoxicology, and in particular with regard to NP risk assessment that is almost entirely overlooked.

Keywords

  • Acute-Phase Reaction, Animals, Antioxidants/metabolism, Biomarkers/blood, Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury, Ethanol/administration & dosage, Female, Glutathione/metabolism, Hep G2 Cells, Humans, Inflammation/chemically induced, Interleukin-8/biosynthesis, Liver/drug effects, Liver Diseases, Alcoholic/pathology, Metal Nanoparticles/chemistry, Mice, Silver/chemistry
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)176-187
Number of pages12
JournalToxicological sciences
Volume158
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2017
Externally publishedYes
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