The potential toxicity of silver nanomaterials (AgNPs) is of interest due to their increased prevalence in consumer goods. A number of recent studies have found AgNPs to be genotoxic, and some of these studies indicate a nanomaterial-specific mechanism of genotoxicity. In order to explore this, isotope-dilution GC/MS was used to quantify oxidative DNA damage lesions formed in acellular (calf thymus DNA) and in vivo (C. elegans) models exposed to AgNPs between 10-100 nm. In acellular studies, AgNPs were found to cause significant oxidative DNA damage while silver ions were found to cause little damage. The amount of this oxidative damage was found to increase with particle size, and further experiments suggest this damage occurs through a direct interaction between the DNA and the AgNPs. Conversely, in vivo studies found silver ions to be significantly more toxic than AgNPs and toxicity was found to decrease with particle size.

Silver nanomaterial genotoxicty studies in acellular and in vivo models

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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