Research article

Biodistribution of gold nanoparticles in mouse lung following intratracheal instillation

Evaldas Sadauskas^1,2 , Nicklas Raun Jacobsen² , Gorm Danscher¹ , Meredin Stoltenberg¹ , Ulla Vogel^2,3,4 , Agnete Larsen¹ , Wolfgang Kreyling⁵ and Håkan Wallin^2,6

¹  Department of Neurobiology, Institute of Anatomy, University of Aarhus, Building 1233/1234, Wilhelm Meyers Allé, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark

²  National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkallé 105, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

³  National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Mørkhøj Bygade 19, DK-2860 Søborg, Denmark

⁴  Institute for Science, Systems and Models, University of Roskilde, DK-4000 Roskilde, Danmark

⁵  Institute of Lung Biology and Disease, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Ingolstaedter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg/Munich, Germany

⁶  Institute of Public Health, Copenhagen University, Øster Farimagsgade 5, DK-1014 Copenhagen, Denmark

author email corresponding author email

Chemistry Central Journal 2009, 3:16doi:10.1186/1752-153X-3-16

Published:	20 November 2009

Abstract

Background

The fate of gold nanoparticles, 2, 40 and 100 nm, administered intratracheally to adult female mice was examined. The nanoparticles were traced by autometallography (AMG) at both ultrastructural and light microscopic levels. Also, the gold content was quantified by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and neutron activation analysis (NAA). The liver is the major site of deposition of circulating gold nanoparticles. Therefore the degree of translocation was determined by the hepatic deposition of gold. Mice were instilled with 5 intratracheal doses of gold nanoparticles distributed over a period of 3 weeks and were killed 24 h after the last dose. One group of mice were given a single intratracheal dose and were killed after 1 h.

Results

The instilled nanoparticles were found in lung macrophages already 1 h after a single instillation. In mice instilled treated repeatedly during 3 weeks, the load was substantial. Ultrastructurally, AMG silver enhanced gold nanoparticles were found in lysosome-/endosome-like organelles of the macrophages and analysis with AMG, ICP-MS and NAA of the liver revealed an almost total lack of translocation of nanoparticles. In mice given repeated instillations of 2 nm gold nanoparticles, 1.4‰ (by ICP-MS) to 1.9‰ (by NAA) of the instilled gold was detected in the liver. With the 40 nm gold, no gold was detected in the liver (detection level 2 ng, 0.1‰) except for one mouse in which 3‰ of the instilled gold was found in the liver. No gold was detected in any liver of mice instilled with 100 nm gold (detection level 2 ng, 0.1‰) except in a single animal with 0.39‰ of the dose in the liver.

Conclusion

We found that that: (1) inert gold nanoparticles, administered intratracheally are phagocytosed by lung macrophages; (2) only a tiny fraction of the gold particles is translocated into systemic circulation. (3) The translocation rate was greatest with the 2 nm gold particles.