Nanobiotechnology for health-care 

Toxic effect of silver nanoparticles on DNA integrity in chinchilla’s somatic cells
A. Grzesiakowska1,  O. Szeleszczuk1, M. Kasprowicz2, M. Kuchta-Gładysz1
1 Univerisity of Agriculture in Krakow, Faculty of Animal Science, Av. Mickiewicza 24/28, 30-059 Krakow, Poland.  E-mail:grzesiakowska.anna.ur@gmail.com
2 Univerisity of Agriculture in Krakow, Faculty of Agriculture and Economics, Av. Mickiewicza 21, 31-120 Krakow, Poland.  

Silver nanoparticles (AgNP) are known for their antibacterial properties and are therefore widely used. These compounds are not neutral for the environment and living organisms. Nanoparticles can easily penetrate into organisms, accumulate in them and cause damage to cells and genetic material. It is important to determine the level of toxicity of silver nanoparticles in animal’s cells.
The purpose of this work was to determine the toxic effect of silver nanoparticles on the DNA integrity in chinchilla’s bone marrow cells in in vitro conditions. Research material was collected from 8 animals and bone marrow was isolated post mortem. Cells were exposed to the action of 3 tested solutions such as: silver nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles with 0.05% sodium citrate and AgNO3 in concentration 10ppm for 6 and 24 hours. Silver nanoparticles were produced by the physical method – high voltage arc discharge method [1]. After the exposure the DNA integrity was evaluated by using an alkaline variant of the comet assay (SCGE). To evaluate the toxic influence of the tested solutions of genetic material in somatic cells, three parameters were analyzed of the comet assay: the percent content of DNA in the comet’s head, the tail length [µm] and the tail moment (TM). The integrity of DNA in bone marrow cells was compared to the control samples.  The content of DNA in the comet’s head in samples after treatment was at the different level, between 49-59%. The lowest DNA content was in cells treated AgNO3 solutions after 6 hour exposition. In control samples the % of DNA was 70,59. The tail length decrease with longer time exposition, after 6h it was 341,47 µm for cells treated AgNP with sodium citrate and 261,58 µm for the cells treated the same solution but for 24 hours. The tail moment is calculated as the product of the percentage of DNA in the tail and the tail length. The lower values of this parameter were observed after the longer cells exposure for tested solutions.
The study was supported by the project BM-4273 and DS-3253/ZAZINW.

1.	Kasprowicz M., Gorczyca A., Janas P. Production of silver nanoparticles using High Voltage Arc Discharge method.//Curr Nanosci-2016.-12, P. 747-753,