Quantitative imaging of translocated silver following nanoparticle exposure by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

Abstract

The likelihood of exposure to antimicrobial silver nanoparticles continues to grow with their increasing ubiquity in various medical and consumer products. While translocation of silver nanoparticles to major organs has been examined, the in situ location and concentration in the organs is not well characterised. Here we have used laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry to quantitatively image serial sections to construct a three-dimensional representation of the distribution of silver in rat spleen following respiratory tract exposure via intratracheal instillation of silver nanoparticles. Silver was distributed predominantly in the white pulp of the spleen at concentrations greater than 300 ng g⁻¹. Imaging tissue sections via laser-ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry is an excellent tool for the visualisation and quantification of metals attributed to nanoparticles in organs allowing investigation of silver nanoparticle exposure in vivo.