Scientific Publications by FDA Staff

Nanomedicine 2017 Sep;12(17):2097-111

Investigating the susceptibility of mice to a bacterial challenge after intravenous exposure to durable nanoparticles.

Khan S, Zhang Q, Marasa BS, Sung K, Cerniglia CE, Ingle T, Jones MY, Paredes AM, Tobin GA, Bancos S, Weaver JL, Goering PL, Howard PC, Patri AK, Tyner KM

AIM: The goal of this study was to determine whether bacterial clearance in a rodent model would be impaired upon exposure to gold, silver or silica nanoparticles (NPs). MATERIALS & METHODS: Mice received weekly injections of NPs followed by a challenge of Listeria monocytogenes (LM). On days 3 and 10 after LM injections, the animals were sacrificed and their tissues were collected for elemental analysis, electron microscopy and LM count determination. RESULTS: The untreated and NP-treated animals cleared LM at the same rate suggesting that bioaccumulation of NPs did not increase the animals' susceptibility to bacterial infection. CONCLUSION: The data from this study indicate that the bioaccumulation of NPs does not significantly affect the ability to react to a bacterial challenge.