In Vitro Effect of Gold or Silver Nanoparticles on Meiotic and Postmeiotic Fractions of Rat Germinal Cells

The cytotoxicity of Au or Ag nanoparticles (NPs) on rat germinal cells was investigated in vitro. Rat germ cells separated by the STAPUT method in two different populations, pachytene spermatocytes (F5) and round spermatids (F3), were incubated (37°C, 60’-120’) with 60 μM, 125 μM, 250 μM and 500 μM of Au/Ag-NPs. Cell viability was assessed with the Eosin Y test. Au or Ag-NPs were investigated with FEG-STEM/EDS and TEM. A dose-dependent effect on the viability of F3 and F5 populations was observed after incubation with Au-NPs or Ag-NPs (P<0.001). A significant decrease in cell viability was observed in F5 fractions compared to F3 fractions (P<0.05), except for the samples treated with 60μM of Au-NPs, and the decrease was also significant in all the samples treated with Ag-NPs compared to those incubated with Au-NPs (P< 0.05). Au-NPs were localized in spermatocytes and spermatids whereas Ag-NPs were undetectable. In conclusion, AuNPs and Ag-NPs seem to exert a negative effect on rat germ cells, particularly on spermatocytes, that appeared significantly more compromised than spermatids. Further research is needed, mainly to carefully explore the possible genotoxicity of these NPs on germinal cells.