Assessment of genotoxicity of silver nanoparticles on lymphocyte cells of albino rats using comet assay

Silver nanoparticles, "AgNPs", represent a prominent nanoproduct, but most of the previous toxicity studies on its genotoxicity are still limited. The current study aimed to assess the genotoxicity of AgNPs on lymphocyte cells using comet assay and to study the recovery probability. It was conducted on 50 adult male albino rats divided into "Control group", 10 rats were injected intraperitoneal, "IP", with distilled water for 28 days, and "Test groups", 40 rats were injected "IP" with 13 +/- 3 nm AgNPs for 28 days, subdivided into group I: 10 rats were injected with 2 mg/kg AgNPs, group Ia: 10 rats were injected with 2 mg/kg AgNPs and left for another 4 weeks without scarification, group II: 10 rats were injected with 4 mg/kg AgNPs, and group IIa: 10 rats were injected with 4 mg/kg and left for another 4 weeks without scarification. There was a highly significant decrease in head parameters with an increase in tail parameters in both groups I and II and in group II more than group I. Moreover, there was a highly significant increase in head parameters with a decrease in tail parameters in group Ia compared with the control group and group IIa. Comets were classified according to the tail intensity and according to visual scoring for DNA damage, which revealed different grades of DNA damage with a degree of reversibility after 4 weeks stoppage of exposure. It could be concluded that AgNPs were considered to cause harmful genotoxic effects to the human body in a dose-dependent manner.