Assessment of Cellular Responses after Short- and Long-Term Exposure to Silver Nanoparticles in Human Neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) and Astrocytoma (D384) Cells
Figure 3
Membrane integrity evaluation. Representative images of randomly selected microscopic fields of cells (SH-SY5Y, D384, or A549) stained with calcein-AM/propidium iodide after 4 (a), 24 (b), and 48 (c) h exposure to increasing concentrations (25–100 μg/mL) of AgNPs. Green fluorescence patterns and the cellular morphology were similar to the controls. A strong decrease in cell viability for both cerebral cell lines was observed as evidenced by the presence of numerous red coloured cells (indicating damage to the cell membrane) at the highest doses (50–100 μg/mL). After 24 and 48 h, the cytotoxic effect of AgNPs was exacerbated. SH-SY5Y cells were the most sensitive towards AgNP since the cell loss was evident at the dose of 25 μg/mL, whereas pulmonary cells (A549) were less susceptible to AgNP exposure compared to cerebral cell types, showing a slight decrease of cell viability after 48 h exposure only (scale bar is 100 μm).
