Extremely low level of Ag nanoparticle excretion from mice brain in in vivo experiments

Silver nanoparticle accumulation in mice organs as well as the excretion processes from them were studied. The investigation included a one-time oral administration of silver nanoparticles and a series of prolonged oral administrations of the same nanoparticles to study the long-term impact of the nanoparticles. In these experiments, the mice had been fed with colloid silver and in these prolonged experiments, administrations lasted for 2 months. The nanoparticle administration was then cancelled for one month. The elemental composition of tissue samples was studied by Nuclear Physical technique, which allowed us to obtain the masses of the key element, namely silver. It was demonstrated that silver concentrations in tissues were redistributed with time. The main result of this work was the discovery of extremely low level of silver nanoparticle excretion from mice brain (just 6% per month) following the cancellation of NP administration. However, the rates of excretion from blood and liver appeared to be rather high (about 80% per month). Thus, the accumulation effect of silver nanoparticles in the mice brain was observed, which is of great practical importance. It changes the approach to the toxicity assessment of silver nanoparticles as a result of the prolonged injection of colloidal silver.