Argovit™ Silver Nanoparticles Effects on <i>Allium cepa</i>: Plant Growth Promotion without Cyto Genotoxic Damage

oleh: Francisco Casillas-Figueroa, María Evarista Arellano-García, Claudia Leyva-Aguilera, Balam Ruíz-Ruíz, Roberto Luna Vázquez-Gómez, Patricia Radilla-Chávez, Rocío Alejandra Chávez-Santoscoy, Alexey Pestryakov, Yanis Toledano-Magaña, Juan Carlos García-Ramos, Nina Bogdanchikova

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2020-07-01

Deskripsi

Due to their antibacterial and antiviral effects, silver nanoparticles (AgNP) are one of the most widely used nanomaterials worldwide in various industries, e.g., in textiles, cosmetics and biomedical-related products. Unfortunately, the lack of complete physicochemical characterization and the variety of models used to evaluate its cytotoxic/genotoxic effect make comparison and decision-making regarding their safe use difficult. In this work, we present a systematic study of the cytotoxic and genotoxic activity of the commercially available AgNPs formulation Argovit™ in <i>Allium cepa</i>. The evaluated concentration range, 5–100 µg/mL of metallic silver content (85–1666 µg/mL of complete formulation), is 10–17 times higher than the used for other previously reported polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-AgNP formulations and showed no cytotoxic or genotoxic damage in <i>Allium cepa</i>. Conversely, low concentrations (5 and 10 µg/mL) promote growth without damage to roots or bulbs. Until this work, all the formulations of PVP-AgNP evaluated in <i>Allium cepa</i> regardless of their size, concentration, or the exposure time had shown phytotoxicity. The biological response observed in <i>Allium cepa</i> exposed to Argovit™ is caused by nanoparticles and not by silver ions. The metal/coating agent ratio plays a fundamental role in this response and must be considered within the key physicochemical parameters for the design and manufacture of safer nanomaterials.