Simultaneous size characterization and mass quantification of the in vivo core-biocorona structure and dissolved species of silver nanoparticles

• Published in: Journal of environmental sciences (China) Vol. 63; no. 1; pp. 227 - 235
• Main Authors: Dong, Lijie, Zhou, Xiaoxia, Hu, Ligang, Yin, Yongguang, Liu, Jingfu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 2018
• Subjects: Animals; Environmental Pollutants - analysis; Environmental Pollutants - metabolism; In vivo study; Limit of Detection; Liver; Mass quantification; Metal Nanoparticles - analysis; Molecular Weight; Particle Size; Rats; Silver - analysis; Silver nanoparticle; Size characterization; Size exclusion chromatography; vivo;尺寸;集体;种类;银;有效直径;结构;溶解; In vivo study; Size characterization; Size exclusion chromatography; Mass quantification; Silver nanoparticle
• ISSN: 1001-0742; 1878-7320
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jes.2017.10.010

Size characterization of silver nanoparticles with biomolecule corona（AgNP@BCs） and mass quantification of various silver species in organisms are essential for understanding the in vivo transformation of Ag NPs. Herein, we report a versatile method that allows simultaneous determination of the size of AgNP@BCs and mass concentration of various silver species in rat liver. Both particulate and ionic silver were extracted in their original forms from the organs by alkaline digestion, and analyzed by size exclusion chromatography combined with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry（SEC-ICP-MS）. While the silver mass concentrations were quantified by ICP-MS with a detection limit of 0.1 μg/g, the effective diameter of AgNP@BCs was determined based on the retention time in SEC separation with size discrimination of 0.6-3.3 nm. More importantly, we found that the BC thickness of AgNP@BCs is core size independent, and a linear correlation was found between the effective diameter and core diameter of AgNP@BCs in extracted tissues, which was used to calibrate the core diameter with standard deviations in the range of 0.2-1.1 nm. The utility of this strategy was demonstrated through application to rat livers in vivo. Our method is powerful for investigating the transformation mechanism of Ag NPs in vivo.