Issue 5, 2018

Comparison of the suitability of alkaline or enzymatic sample pre-treatment for characterization of silver nanoparticles in human tissue by single particle ICP-MS

Abstract

To understand potential harmful effects of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) for the growing fetus, studies dealing with the translocation and accumulation of NPs across the placental barrier are of great importance. Quantitative methods for determination of NP mass and number concentration and their size are required for studying NP accumulation in placental tissue. In the present study, we applied and compared two sample preparation techniques, alkaline and enzymatic treatment, followed by single particle ICP-MS (spICP-MS) analysis, for characterizing AgNPs spiked to human placental tissue. Both sample preparation approaches are currently used for AgNPs in biological tissues but have not been directly compared yet. We showed that the method using enzymatic tissue treatment followed by spICP-MS is efficient for determination of mass and number concentration and size distribution of AgNPs in human placental tissues. Properties of the AgNPs were preserved during enzymatic digestion and comparable with the primary particles. The matrix effect on the determination of Ag sensitivity and transport efficiency in spICP-MS analysis was systematically evaluated as well. The method was applied to human placenta, exposed to AgNPs with two different surface modifications: 27 nm polyethylene glycol (AgPEG NPs) or 34 nm sodium carboxylate groups (AgCOONa NPs) in an ex vivo human placental perfusion model. The Ag mass concentration obtained with spICP-MS following enzymatic sample pretreatment was not significantly different from the Ag concentration obtained by conventional ICP-MS analysis of acid digested tissue. With this we confirmed the ability of the procedure to quantitatively characterize AgNPs accumulated in human tissue under realistic exposure scenario.

Graphical abstract: Comparison of the suitability of alkaline or enzymatic sample pre-treatment for characterization of silver nanoparticles in human tissue by single particle ICP-MS

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 déc. 2017
Accepted
27 mars 2018
First published
27 mars 2018

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2018,33, 752-761

Comparison of the suitability of alkaline or enzymatic sample pre-treatment for characterization of silver nanoparticles in human tissue by single particle ICP-MS

J. Vidmar, T. Buerki-Thurnherr and K. Loeschner, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2018, 33, 752 DOI: 10.1039/C7JA00402H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements