Acute toxicity of silver nanoparticles stabilized by cetylperidinium anion in white rats

Modern toxicology is facing new challenges due to the constantly growing number of new compounds, especially in nanoform. The most common among such substances are metal nanoparticles, especially Silver. The relevance of their development is due to a wide range of unique properties such as antimicrobial action, anti-inflammatory properties, etc. Most Silver nanoparticles have pronounced toxicity. As a result of that in recent decades new approaches to their synthesis have been developed considering the provisions of “green chemistry”. The acute toxicity of newly synthesized Silver nanoparticles stabilized by the cetylperidinium anion was studied. The studied compound is an aqueous solution of yellow-brown colour with a concentration of 0.15 g/L at pH 6.3–6.5. The nanoparticles obtained by the developed synthesis method have a shape close to spherical and a size of 20 nm. To assess acute toxicity, a toxicological experiment was conducted on white rats of both sexes, a total of 30 animals. Rat males were divided into three groups of 6 animals each: experimental 1, experimental 2 group and a control one. Experimental 1 and 2 groups of males received the studied compound at a dose of 5000 and 10000 mg/kg body weight, respectively. Rat females were divided into two groups of 6 animals each: an experimental and a control. Experimental group of females received the substance at a dose of 5000 mg/kg body weight. Both males and females control groups were administered distilled water according to a similar procedure. All rats were observed daily for 14 days, then they were removed from the experiment. After pathological dissection, the mass coefficients of internal organs were calculated as an integral indicator of organotropic action. As a result of the studies, it was found that a single intragastric administration of Silver nanoparticles did not cause the death of experimental rats during 14 days of observation. It allows to attribute the substance to toxicity class V (non-toxic compounds) and hazard class IV (low-hazard substance). Calculations of mass coefficients of internal organs indicate the absence of statistical differences between the data of rats from the control group and rats from the experimental groups. This allows to conclude that a single oral administration of Silver nanoparticles does not affect general trophic processes in the body of rats of both sexes. Thus, Silver nanoparticles stabilized by cetylperidinium anion do not have a toxic effect under acute experimental conditions and can be used as a medicine.