Toxicity of gold nanoparticles in a commercial dietary supplement drink on connective tissue fibroblast cells

Abstract

Due to an increased use of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in various consumer products we aimed to investigate the cytotoxic impact of AuNPs found in a commercial dietary supplement drink (SD-AuNPs). The cytotoxic impact of SD-AuNPs was determined in mouse connective tissue fibroblasts (L929). The cells were treated with different concentrations of SD-AuNPs (0.2, 0.5, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 µg/mL). The results indicated that the toxicological effect of SD-AuNPs on L929 cells occurred in a dose-dependent manner. Significant reduction of cell viability was found in L929 cells treated with 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 µg/mL SD-AuNPs for 24 h. L929 cells treated with 40 and 50 µg/mL SD-AuNPs produced significant intracellular reactive oxygen species and TNF-α. High levels of intracellular uptake of these compounds were also observed in L929 cells treated with 50 µg/mL SD-AuNPs.