Table 2.

In vivo toxicity studies with AuNPs.

Organism	Effects	Particle	References
BALB/c mice	Apoptosis and inflammation of liver tissue	13 nm PEG-Coated AuNPs with the average injected numbers of particles per mice: 1.76 × 1011, 8.8 × 1011, and 4.4 × 1012 for low, middle, and high doses, respectively.	[95,96]
Broiler chicken	Caused recognisable oxidative damage to blood, histopathological changes, up-regulation of IL-6, expression of Nrf2 gene, fragmentation of DNA, a significant decrease in antibody titer against avian influenza (AI) and Newcastle disease (ND)	Gold nanoparticles colloidal solution (25 ± 5 nm)	[97]
D. magna	LC50 was reported as 2 mg/l after 48 h	Nanoparticles with a diameter of approximately 15 nm	[70]
D. magna, T. arcticus	LC50 was reported as 0.64 mg/l after 48 h for D. magna and 14.4 mg/l after 96 h for T. arcticus	0–10 mg/L concentration of Au3+	[98]
Drosophila melanogaster	Caused transmissible mutagenic effects	Citrate-capped 15 nm AuNPs in the concentration of 100 pM	[99]
Drosophila melanogaster	Sharp decline in fertility and life span, presence of DNA fragments, and strong over-expression of stress proteins	Citrate-capped 15 nm AuNPs in six different concentrations (1.9, 3.8, 19, 38, 190, and 380 pmol/L) dispersed in food	[100]
Female and male mice	Liver and kidney damage whose effects were sex-dependent. Damage to the neuronal system	Different diameters of AuNPs ranging from 3 to 100 nm	[101]
Female mice	Spherical AuNPs in live and macrophages	AuNPs of diameter 2, 4 and 100 nm in, respectively—15 × 1013 particles/mL, 9 × 1010/mL and the 100 nm 6 × 109/mL.	[102]
Fetal mouse organs	No indication of toxicity in the fetus and placenta	20 and 50 nm AuNPs	[103]
Male CD1 mice	Accumulation at various parts of the brain	Protein and polyelectroylte coated AuNPs with a diameter of 15 ± 1 nm injected in the concentration of 144.5 nM	[104]
Male Wistar rats	AuNPs persist and accumulate in the spleen and liver	AuNPs of 20 nm diameter were injected at 15.1 µg/mL.	[11]
Male WU Wistar rats	Large particles of spherical AuNPs were observed in blood, spleen, and liver, while smaller particles were seen in the spleen, blood, thymus, lungs, liver, kidney, testis, heart, and brain	Gold nanoparticles have a 10, 50, 100 and 250 nm diameter. Injection concentration was respectively 77, 96, 89 and 108 µg/mL	[105]
ICR Mice	Lungs, kidney hemorrhage, lymphocytic infiltration, and inflammatory response	PEGylated 13 nm gold colloids	[87]
Mice	Liver damage	5, 10, 30, and 60 nm PEG-coated AuNPS dosed 4000 µg/kg	[106]
Mice	Apoptosis and acute inflammation	13 nm PEG-coated AuNPs. The mean quantities of particles injected per mouse were 1.76 × 1011, 8.8 × 1011, and 4.4 × 1012 for the low, medium, and high doses, respectively.	[96]
Mice	Affects kidney function and produces toxicity	GSH- and BSA-coated AuNCs with an average size of 2.1 nm. The injected concentration is up to 7550 µg/mL	[107]
Mice	Greatest toxicity and affecting organ index. Induced reduction in RBC, spleen index, and body weight	Citrate-capped AuNPs of diameter 13.5 nm in different concentrations varying from 137.5 to 2200 µg/kg	[93]
Mice	Produced no effect on normal growth	AuNPs capped with BSA and HSePEGeCOOH in a diameter of about 4 nm in various concentrations	[108]
BALB/C Mice	Caused loss of weight and appetite. However, smaller AuNPs did not produce any sickness	Naked colloidal AuNPs ranging in diameter from 3 to 100 nm injected intraperitoneally at a dose of 8 mg/kg/week	[5]
Mice (ddy)	AuNPs of all sizes were noticed in the spleen, liver, and lungs	AuNPs ranging in size from 15 to 200 nm administered in 1 g/kg intravenously	[109]
Pregnant C57BL/6 mice	Non-crossing of maternal-fetal barrier	2 and 40 nm AuNPs injected intravenously and 40 nm intraperitoneally	[110]
Rats	Accumulation in the spleen and liver	PEG-coated AuNPsofdiameter ranging from 11 to 31 nm injected in various concentrations	[111]
Rats	ROS-induced cytotoxicity that is size-dependent	PEG-coated AuNPs in diameter ranging in size between 6.2 and 61.2 nm	[112]
Rats	Distribution of AuNPs was observed in the testis, liver, and kidney. However, there were no effects on the testis, whereas mild changes were noticed in the kidney and liver sections	AuNPs with an average size of 50 nm and various concentrations	[113]
Wistar rats	Traces of AuNPs in the kidney, spleen, liver, intestine, urine, and feces. Smaller NPs induced greater effects on DNA damage	AuNPs of 10, 30 or 60 nm diameter injected 0.4 mL/day	[54]
Wistar rats	Accumulate in neurons, liver, spleen, kidney, and cross the blood-brain barrier; no toxicity	12.5 nm citrate-coated AuNPs in different doses—40, 200 and 400 µg/kg/day	[114]
Zebrafish embryo	Delay in the development of eyes and pigmentation	1.3 nm AuNPs (functionalized with TMATeAuNPs)in concentrations ranging from 0.08 to 50 mg/L	[7]