ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors reports that Silver Nanoparticles (AgNPs) with an initial size of 20 nm increased the cell size of human neutrophils as evidenced by optical microscopy and by flow cytometry based on the cell size forward scattered light (FSC) and the inner complexity or granularity based on the FSC. Several in vitro studies evaluated the cytotoxicity and only one or few polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) responses of different kinds of NPs, including AgNP. The in vivo studies indirectly promote the necessity and importance of investigating how AgNPs could directly alter the biology of PMNs. NPs certainly have a great potential for human needs. AgNPs are increasingly used in electronics, food adjuvants, paints, sunscreens, cosmetics and in a wide range of medical applications, including wound treatment with different silver-containing bandages. In fact, neutrophil counts are frequently used as biomarkers of inflammation in several studies.
