Figure 3.

The effect on primary lymphocyte proliferation of SiO₂ NPs fed to mice.

Notes: C57BL/6 mice were treated with varying sizes (20 nm, 100 nm) and charges (SiO₂^EN[R]; negative, SiO₂^EN[−]) of 750 mg/kg colloidal SiO₂ NPs for 14 days. At the end of the treatment period, single-cell suspensions were made from spleens of mice, and the proliferation of (A) B-cells and (B) T-cells were assessed. Data are presented as the mean ± standard deviation; n=5. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, and ***P<0.001 indicate significant differences when tested with ANOVA. Tukey’s test was used for post hoc tests.

Abbreviations: NC, normal control; SiO₂, silicon dioxide; SiO₂^EN(−), negatively charged silicon dioxide; SiO₂^EN(R), silicon dioxide modified with L-arginine; NP, nanoparticle; n, number; ANOVA, analysis of variance.