A carrier protein is essential for the action of silver nanoparticles in an animal experiment

Abstract

Many environmental chemicals caused rat hyperactivity, a key feature of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These were confirmed by many epidemiological studies, showing the correlation in their exposure levels in patients with ADHD. The nanomaterials have been difficult to be evaluated health risk because of its physicochemical nature. In this study, we examined the possibility that silver nanoparticle might be ADHD related chemical. Oral exposure of rat pups to silver nanoparticles (3mg/kg) with 1% bovine serum albumin as a carrier protein at 5 days old increased 1.3~1.4 fold spontaneous motor activity while without carrier proteins, it failed to do so. Thus, dispersion of silver nanoparticle solution by carrier proteins was necessary to examine the toxicological action of silver nanoparticles in the animal experiment.