The Toxicity of Gold, Silver, and Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles on LDH Enzyme in Male Mice

Abstract

Aims: Nanoparticles have the potential to be used in medical imaging, disease diagnosis, cancer treatment and other procedures. These nanoparticles accumulate in the body tissues and result in oxidative stress with the generation of reactive oxygen species. This study investigates the effects of gold, silver, and zinc oxide nanoparticles on the LDH enzyme in male mice. Methodology: Adult Wistar strain albino mice (60) weighing 20-38 g were used for this study. The mice were randomly assigned to 3 classes in a way that in each class there were four groups of which one group was control and the other three groups were fed by zinc-oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs), gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) at 100, 50, 25 ppm concentrations, respectively, for 15 days and the heart blood was taken to measure LDH enzyme activity at the end of treatment. Results: There was a significant difference (p<0.05) in the LDH level with use of a moderate concentration of gold nanoparticles (50mg/kg) and in moderate and low concentrations of silver nanoparticles (50 and 25mg/kg) and in all concentration of zinc oxide nanoparticles (100, 50, and 25mg/kg) as compared to the control group. Conclusion: Our results show that a moderate concentration in each of the three nanoparticles leads to an increase in LDH enzyme activity as compared with the control group.