Ultrastructural characterization of bioaccumulation and migration of Ag nanoparticles in host-parasite organisms

Abstract

In an era of developing nanotechnologies, studying the bioaccumulation and migration of nanoparticles in various components of the ecosystem, and the varying degrees of pathology they cause in living organisms - is important. In the present study, the bioaccumulation and migration of nanoparticles in both the host and parasite were examined by light and electron microscopy, focusing on the nematode Heterakis dispar, which causes serious damage to the organism of the domestic goose. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were administered to birds infected with H. dispar at a concentration of 100 μg/ml (total volume 10 ml). The parasites, as well as intestine, liver, and skeletal striated muscle of the host, were examined by histological methods and electron microscopy. It was found that the sizes of AgNPs at the free state were ranging from 9.03 to 23.82 nm (13.88 ± 0.48 nm), while in the parasite organism they were up to 14 nm, and in birds they did not exceed 13 nm. Nanoparticles bioaccumulated in the parasite, causing pathological changes. AgNPs were observed to migrate through the integumentary tissue of the parasite into the pseudocoelomic cavity organs. Various pathological changes occurred in the structural elements of the intestine, liver, and skeletal striated muscle of birds due to the action of AgNPs. Nanoparticles entered the cytoplasm of erythrocytes located in the lumen of the vessels in the submucosal layer of the goose intestine and subsequently migrated to the liver and striated muscle.