Abstract

In this study, two sets of methyl-coated non-porous and mesoporous amorphous silica materials of two target sizes (100 and 300 nm; 10–844 m²/g) were used to investigate the potential role of specific surface area (SSA) and porosity on the oral toxicity in mice. Female Swiss mice were administered by oral gavage for 5 consecutive days. Two silica dose levels (100 and 1000 mg/kg b.w.) were tested for all four materials. All dispersions were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA). Batch dispersions of porous silica were rather unstable due to agglomeration. Animals were sacrificed one day after the last administration or after a three-week recovery period. No relevant toxicological effects were induced by any of the silica materials tested, as evaluated by body weight, gross pathology, relative organ weights (liver, spleen, kidneys), hematology, blood biochemistry, genotoxicity (Comet assay in jejunum cells and micronucleus test in peripheral blood erythrocytes), liver and small intestine histopathology, and intestinal inflammation. The presence of silica particles in the intestine was evaluated by a hyperspectral imaging microscopy system (CytoViva) using histological samples of jejunum tissue. Silica spectral signatures were found in jejunum samples with all the treatments, but only statistically significant in one of the treatment groups.

摘要

在这项研究中，两组甲基涂覆的无孔和中孔无定形二氧化硅材料的两个目标尺寸（100和300 nm； 10–844 m ²/ g）用于研究比表面积（SSA）和孔隙率对小鼠口服毒性的潜在作用。连续5天通过口管饲喂雌性瑞士小鼠。对于所有四种材料，测试了两种二氧化硅剂量水平（100和1000 mg / kg bw）。所有分散体均通过透射电子显微镜（TEM）和纳米颗粒跟踪分析（NTA）进行表征。由于附聚，多孔二氧化硅的批料分散体相当不稳定。在最后一次给药后一天或在三周的恢复期后处死动物。通过体重，总体病理，相对器官重量（肝脏，脾脏，肾脏），血液学，血液生化，遗传毒性（空肠细胞的彗星试验和外周血红细胞的微核试验），肝脏和小肠的组织病理学以及肠炎症。使用空肠组织的组织学样品，通过高光谱成像显微镜系统（CytoViva）评估肠中二氧化硅颗粒的存在。在所有处理中，在空肠样品中均发现了二氧化硅光谱特征，但仅在其中一个处理组中具有统计学意义。