Effect of gold nanoparticles on the respiratory activity of peritoneal macrophages

This work was undertaken to investigate the effect of antigen-conjugated gold nanoparticles on the functional activity of cells of the reticuloendothelial system. Experiments using rat and mouse peritoneal cells assessed the dynamics of the total respiratory activity of macrophages and the activity of mitochondrial dehydrogenases on exposure to colloidal gold conjugates of high- and low-molecular-weight antigens. Both gold nanoparticles and their antigen conjugates stimulated the respiratory activity of the macrophages and the activity of macrophage mitochondrial enzymes. This stimulation may be an essential factor determining the adjuvant properties of colloidal gold, found by us in prior work.