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Effect of Silver- and Gold Nanoparticles on the Macroglial Response in the Mouse Retina

Åmark, Sofia (2017) MOBK01 20162
Degree Projects in Molecular Biology
Popular Abstract
The smallest of things can make a big impact

Nanoparticles (NPs) are very small particles that range from 1-200 nanometers. To put this in perspective, envision a football. A NP is approximately as small compared to a football as the football is to the earth. Considering how small these particles are you can imagine that they have unique abilities to travel throughout living systems. The use of these tiny particles has increased exponentially over the past decades both within the commercial sector and within research. The most commonly used NP is silver (AgNP). It accounts for roughly 30% of all nanoparticle-enabled goods on the market today. It can act as an antibacterial agent and is used in everything from cosmetics and athletic gear... (More)
The smallest of things can make a big impact

Nanoparticles (NPs) are very small particles that range from 1-200 nanometers. To put this in perspective, envision a football. A NP is approximately as small compared to a football as the football is to the earth. Considering how small these particles are you can imagine that they have unique abilities to travel throughout living systems. The use of these tiny particles has increased exponentially over the past decades both within the commercial sector and within research. The most commonly used NP is silver (AgNP). It accounts for roughly 30% of all nanoparticle-enabled goods on the market today. It can act as an antibacterial agent and is used in everything from cosmetics and athletic gear to wound dressings and therapeutic drugs. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are also prevalent due to their chemical stability and because they are easily synthesized. They are most commonly used as carriers of drugs to designated areas in the body and within certain cancer treatments.
These particles have attracted much interest from people in the field of ophthalmology (physiology, anatomy and diseases of the eye). Due to their small size they can penetrate various parts of the eye like the cornea and the blood-retina barrier. The retina of the eye is a thin structure at the back of the eyeball which includes numerous layers of neuronal layers. It is highly vulnerable to changes in its environment and physical trauma, and if damaged may result in loss of vision. Many prevalent eye diseases involve abnormal formation of new blood vessels, which can also lead to the loss of vision. Ag- and AuNPs have shown to inhibit this vascularization and thus it is an attractive candidate for new treatments. However, the literature on adverse effects are lacking and since exposure to NPs is becoming more widespread it is imperative to find out how they affect the different cells of our body and the environment.
In this study, the effect of 80 nm Ag- and AuNPs on the retina in mouse eyes has been studied. The parameters investigated have been gross morphological changes, which are the changes in structure of the retina, and glial cell activation, which is the activation of certain types of cells in the retina. This has been observed in both control groups and in groups treated with either AgNP or AuNP to observe the difference. A so called sham group has also been studied to determine whether the trauma of the invasion of the needle is significantly affecting the result.
The analysis made indicated morphological changes in the retina after the animal had been exposed for 72 hours after injection with Ag- or AuNPs. However, the sham group showed no significant difference, which indicates that the trauma of the needle is not relevant. There was also a difference in the amount of activated glial cells for both types of NPs, but not a significant difference between the control and the corresponding treated eye. The significance lay between the sham control group that was not injected and the groups treated with the NPs. This may indicate that despite the fact that the control eye of the mouse did not get a direct injection, NPs have traveled through the CNS to the other eye, making it difficult to see a statistically significant difference.
This is an ongoing study and more results will eventually be presented to shed further light into the field of nanoparticles and ophthalmology.

Supervisor: Ulrica Englund-Johansson
Degree Project 15 credits in Molecular Biology 2016
Dept. of Ophthalmology, Lund University (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Åmark, Sofia
supervisor
organization
course
MOBK01 20162
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
language
English
id
8901729
date added to LUP
2017-01-30 16:18:57
date last changed
2017-02-02 14:57:00
@misc{8901729,
  author       = {{Åmark, Sofia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Effect of Silver- and Gold Nanoparticles on the Macroglial Response in the Mouse Retina}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}