Quantification of silver nanoparticle interactions with yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae studied using single-cell...

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Analytical Chemistry
• Microbiology

Background:

• Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) exhibit anticancer, antimicrobial, and antiviral properties.
• Single-cell ICP-MS (SC-ICP-MS) enables rapid, quantitative analysis of metal analytes in cell populations.
• Understanding AgNP-yeast interactions is crucial for applications in nanomedicine and environmental science.

Purpose of the Study:

• Develop a rapid, sensitive SC-ICP-MS method to quantify AgNP interactions with Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
• Evaluate the influence of AgNP dosing time, concentration, and size on cellular uptake.
• Validate a novel washing method for distinguishing surface-adsorbed and intracellular AgNPs.

Main Methods:

• Utilized single-cell ICP-MS (SC-ICP-MS) for high-throughput quantification of AgNP-yeast interactions.
• Quantified cell concentration, silver concentration per cell, and nanoparticle distribution.
• Developed and validated a washing protocol to differentiate extracellular and intracellular AgNPs.

Main Results:

• AgNP uptake by yeast was rapid and primarily driven by the mass of silver per cell.
• Optimal AgNP concentrations for maximum uptake were determined for 10, 20, and 40 nm AgNPs.
• The ratio of intracellular to surface-adsorbed AgNPs was consistent across different AgNP sizes.

Conclusions:

• The developed SC-ICP-MS method provides a powerful tool for quantitative analysis of nanoparticle-cell interactions.
• Findings offer insights into AgNP uptake mechanisms and inform nanotoxicity and drug delivery applications.
• This study represents the first quantitative investigation of AgNP-S. cerevisiae interactions using SC-ICP-MS.