Immunotoxic effects of gold and silver nanoparticles: Inhibition of mitogen-induced proliferative responses and viability of human and murine lymphocytes in vitro

Figures & data

Figure 1. Size distribution and particle concentration. Measurements obtained using NTA. (A) GNP. (B) SNP. Graph presented is representative of four independent experiments. x-axis: diameter (nm); y-axis: particle number (×10⁶/ml).

Table 1. Distribution of size and number determined by NTA.

			Diameter (nm)
Sample	Preparation	Concentration (×10^9/μg)	mean	mode
1	GNP	0.59 ± 0.06	50.0 ± 5.0	28.0 ± 1.5
2	SNP	0.48 ± 0.03	76.0 ± 1.8	66.0 ± 2.7

Values shown are means (±SEM) of four independent experiments.

Figure 2. Effects of NP on mouse splenic lymphocyte and human PBL viability. (A) GNP. (B) SNP. Data shown are means (±SEM) of three experiments. *p < .05, NP treated versus control.

Figure 3. Effects of NP on unstimulated murine splenic lymphocytes and human PBL [³H]-thymidine incorporation. (A) GNP. (B) SNP. Data shown are means (±SEM) of three experiments. *p < .05, NP treated versus control.

Figure 4. Effects of NP on mitogen-stimulated lymphocyte proliferative response of murine splenic lymphocytes. (A) GNP. (B) SNP. Mean stimulation indices with mitogens: LPS =23 (±1), ConA =25 (±1) are normalized to 100% value. Data shown are means (±SEM) of three experiments. *p < .05, NP treated versus control.

Figure 5. Effects of NP on mitogen-stimulated proliferative response of human PBL. (A) GNP. (B) SNP. Mean stimulation indices with mitogens: PHA =58 (±2) and PWM =24 (±1) are normalized to 100% value. Data shown are means (±SEM) of three experiments. *p < .05, NP treated versus control.

Figure 6. Mitogen-stimulated proliferative responses of lymphocytes cultured in NP-free supernatants obtained from GNP and SNP incubated in complete medium for 72 h. (A) GNP G1 = 50 μg/ml, G2 = 200 μg/ml. (B) SNP: S1 = 12.5 μg/ml, S2 = 50 μg/ml. Mean stimulation indices with mitogens: LPS =22 (±1), ConA =17 (±2), PHA =21 (±1) and PWM =54 (±3) are normalized to 100% value. Data shown are means (±SEM) of three experiments.