The Effect of Silver Nanoparticles on Cellular and Humoral Immunity of Mice in Vivo and in Vitro

Abstract

This study investigated the immunological adjuvant effect of silver nanoparticles AgNPs which have been prepared and characterized in previous study. The silver nanoparticales were  synthesized by biological method using green (G) and black (B) tea as reducing agent. AgNPs were 50nm and 30 nm respectively with like spherical in shape. The effect of  AgNPs as adjuvant were tested both in vitro and in vivo. The effect of the concentration2mg/kg of AgNPs was evaluated in mice by intraperitoneal immunization. In vitro the number of both T and B cells, monocytes and  neutrophils populations showed an increase in absolute cell number in 2B and 3G groups in the immunized mice compared to the control group, whereas the relative cell numbers remained constant in eosinophils and basophils between group2 and control. The levels of IL 4 and IL6 showed significant elevation (P≥ 0.05)  in the  serum groups (2B,3G) of animals which were (23.1 ± 0.80, 32.4 ±1.35) pg/ml for group2 (36.7 ±1.76and 50.5 ± 1.76) pg/ml for group3 compared to those that found in control (12.10 ±.23and 19.5±0.34) pg/ml respectively. So, the inoculation with AgNPs, showed no signification difference at (P ≥ 0.05) in group2B while the concentration of IgGgroup3G showed significant elevation which were (4.9±0.11 and 6.8±0.12) mg/ml respectively as compared with control group (4. ±50.11) mg/ml. Also the results showed an increase in phagocytes of treated mice's blood 36 (32%)and 95 (45%) for group2B  and group3G  respectively as compared with control 4 (17%). Therefore, we conclude that AgNPs have a significant adjuvant effect and the mechanism of this effect is mainly ascribed to the recruitment and activation of local leukocytes, especially lymphocytes, increase cytokines levels in mice, IgG concentration and phagocytes. The humoral and cellular immunities were significantly enhanced in immunized mice, whichcan be utilized as an effective adjuvant to improve the immunoprotection, the result is beneficial for the future applications, especially in biomedicine.