Hundreds of consumer and commercial products containing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are currently used in food, personal-care products, pharmaceutical, and many other applications. Human exposure to AgNPs includes oral intake, inhalation, and dermal contact. The aim of this review was to focus on oral intake, intentional and incidental of AgNPs where well-known antimicrobial characteristics that might affect the microbiome and mucus in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). This critical review summarizes what is known regarding the impacts of AgNPs on gut homeostasis. It is fundamental to understand the forms of AgNPs and their physicochemical characterization before and during digestion. For example, lab-synthesized AgNPs differ from "real" ingestable AgNPs used as food additives and dietary supplements. Similarly, the gut environment alters the chemical and physical state of Ag that is ingested as AgNPs. Emerging research on in vitro and in vivo rodent and human indicated complex multi-directional relationships among AgNPs, the intestinal microbiota, and the epithelial mucus. It may be necessary to go beyond today's descriptive approach to a modeling-based ecosystem approach that might quantitatively integrate spatio-temporal interactions among microbial groups, host factors (e.g., mucus), and environmental factors, including lifestyle-based stressors. It is suggested that future research (1) utilize more representative AgNPs, focus on microbe/mucus interactions, (2) assess the effects of environmental stressors for longer and longitudinal conditions, and (3) be integrated using quantitative modeling.

中文翻译：

---

饮食中的银纳米颗粒，黏液和微生物群的复杂谜题。

目前，数百种包含银纳米颗粒（AgNPs）的消费和商业产品已用于食品，个人护理产品，药品和许多其他应用中。人类暴露于AgNPs的途径包括口服，吸入和皮肤接触。这篇综述的目的是着重于AgNPs的口服摄入，故意摄入和偶然摄入，其中众所周知的抗菌特性可能会影响胃肠道（GIT）中的微生物组和粘液。这篇重要的评论总结了关于AgNPs对肠道稳态的影响的已知知识。消化前和消化中了解AgNP的形式及其理化特性至关重要。例如，实验室合成的AgNP与用作食品添加剂和膳食补充剂的“真实”可摄入AgNP不同。同样，肠道环境会改变以AgNP形式摄入的Ag的化学和物理状态。体外和体内啮齿动物和人类的新兴研究表明，AgNP，肠道菌群和上皮粘液之间存在复杂的多方向关系。可能有必要超越今天的描述性方法，而转向基于建模的生态系统方法，该方法可能定量地整合微生物群，宿主因素（例如粘液）和环境因素（包括基于生活方式的压力源）之间的时空相互作用。建议未来的研究（1）利用更具代表性的AgNPs，专注于微生物/粘液相互作用，（2）评估长期和纵向条件下环境胁迫的影响，以及（3）使用定量建模进行整合。