Silver nanoparticles (nAg), due to their biocidal properties, are common in medical applications and are used in more consumer products than any other engineered nanomaterial. This growing abundance, combined with their ability to translocate across the epithelium and bioaccumulate, suggests that internalized nAg may present a risk of toxicity to many organisms in the future. However, little experimentation has been devoted to cardiac responses to acute nAg exposure, even though nAg is known to disrupt ion channels even when ionic Ag⁺ does not. In this study, we examined the cardiac response to nAg exposure relative to a sham and an ionic AgNO₃ control across cardiomyocyte survival and homeostasis, ventricular contractility, and intrinsic pacing rates of whole hearts. Our results suggest that nAg, but not Ag⁺ alone, inhibits force production by the myocardium, that Ag in any form disrupts normal pacing of cardiac contractions, and that these responses are likely not due to cytotoxicity. This evidence of nanoparticle-specific effects on physiology should encourage further research into nAg cardiotoxicity and other potential sublethal effects.

由于银纳米颗粒（nAg）的生物杀灭特性，它们在医疗应用中很常见，并且比任何其他工程纳米材料都在更多的消费产品中使用。这种不断增长的丰度，加上它们能够跨上皮运输和生物蓄积的能力，表明内在化的nAg可能会在未来对许多生物体产生毒性风险。但是，即使已知nAg会破坏离子通道（即使离子Ag ⁺不会破坏离子通道），也很少有实验致力于对急性nAg暴露的心脏反应。在这项研究中，我们检查了相对于假手术和离子性AgNO ₃的心脏对nAg暴露的反应控制整个心肌细胞的存活率和体内稳态，心室收缩力和内在起搏率。我们的结果表明，nAg而不是单独的Ag ^+会抑制心肌的力量产生，任何形式的Ag都会干扰心脏收缩的正常起搏，并且这些反应可能不是由于细胞毒性引起的。纳米颗粒对生理学的特定作用的证据应鼓励对nAg心脏毒性和其他潜在的亚致死作用进行进一步的研究。