All about silver poisoning
Silver is a soft, white element with a wide range of industrial uses. It has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity and reflectivity of any metal. These qualities make silver and its various compounds a staple in many industries and products. However, due to the variety of uses of silver, exposure and subsequent silver poisoning are common in some areas. Additionally, many researchers believe that certain silver compounds and solutions are naturally more toxic and harmful to humans than other forms of the metal.
Damage to tissues and organs
Silver ions bind to reduced glutathione, a complex antioxidant produced by the body. Among its many functions, it helps in the progression of the cell cycle; low glutathione levels can lead to rapid cell death. When silver ions bind to reduced glutathione, the body transports them together in bile, reducing the amount of reduced glutathione available for other functions. This can lead to serious damage to the cells in the liver. Silver can damage other tissues and organs in a similar way.
Silver health supplements
Silver was present in many drugs and medicines in previous centuries. However, the medical use of this metal began to decline in line with the dramatic increase in antibiotics. However, despite the potential dangers, some practitioners suggest silver salts and colloidal silver as health supplements because of the element’s past medical use. The US Food and Drug Administration has taken several steps to warn against the use of colloidal silver as a health product.
Link:
All about silver poisoning:
https://ro.studiowoon-en.nl/all-about-silver-poisoning-3511
Effects of silver ions on the brain and DNA according to scientific experiments
1.AgNPs (silver nanoparticles) attach to the cell membrane where they alter permeability and penetrate the cell, thus releasing Ag+ ions. Once inside the cell, Ag+ ions cause damage to structures and biomolecules, alterations in respiration, oxidative stress by radical oxygen species (ROS) and modulation of signal transduction pathways [109,110] The principal mechanism through which NPs cause cell damage, including DNA damage, is based on the exogenous generation of ROS such as superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical, singlet oxygen, hypochlorous acid and hydrogen peroxide which can damage DNA and lead to mutagenesis processes [24,83,103,111,112].AgNPs can also interact with mitochondria and disrupt the electron transport chain, thereby causing ROS production and interrupting of ATP synthesis; ROS increase and a shortage of ATP result in protein and DNA damage [112,113].
2. Ag-NPs (silver nanoparticles) can accumulate in an in vitro BBB model composed of vascular endothelial cells of rat brain [34] . We administered Ag-NPs subcutaneously because previously it has been reported that SC administration of Ag-NPs can traverse through the BBB and induce pathological changes, necrosis and neuronal degeneration [36] . Also, oral administration in dams led to accumulation in brain [13] . …
The results showed that silver nanoparticles could traverse the BBB and move into the brain in the form of particle. The silver nanoparticles can induce neuronal degeneration and necrosis by accumulating in the brain over a long period of time.
3.Ag-NPs (silver nanoparticles, especially small ones, measuring 25 nm) may interact with the cerebral microvasculature producing a proinflammatory cascade, if left unchecked; these events may further induce brain inflammation and neurotoxicity.
Links/sources:
Genotoxicity of silver and titanium dioxide nanoparticles in bone marrow cells of rats in vivo
Influence of silver nanoparticles on neurons and blood-brain barrier via subcutaneous injection in rats
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169433208015092?via%3Dihub
Silver Nanoparticle Induced Blood-Brain Barrier Inflammation and Increased Permeability in Primary Rat Brain Microvessel Endothelial Cells
https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article-abstract/118/1/160/1664864?redirectedFrom=fulltext
The catastrophic effects of Silver (real clinical cases)
Non-specific neurological symptoms have been reported before in cases of silver toxicity. Mirsattari et al.1 described a patient with colloidal silver-induced status epilepticus and who developed paralysis, coma and myoclonic jerks. He died approximately nine months after commencing daily self-medication and five months after onset of symptoms. Silver deposition in the grey matter of his cerebellum, and in blood and CSF, was revealed when specimens were analysed by high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.
Convulsive seizures were described in a patient with schizophrenia, who had used silver antismoking pills for 40 years.2
In another case, a patient using drops for tongue ulcers developed argyria and manic-depressive psychosis. At autopsy, silver deposits were demonstrated in many parts of her central nervous system (CNS), principally the choroid plexus, basal ganglia, hypothalamus, substantia nigra and cerebellum.
Although silver toxicity is uncommon,5 it has been shown in animal studies6 and in humans7 that silver ions can penetrate the blood–brain barrier. However, it has not been proven that accumulation of silver ions is directly toxic to the CNS.8 Almost 30 years ago experimental studies on animals clearly demonstrated the deposition of silver in the neurons of the globus pallidus, brainstem, spinal cord, basal ganglia, cerebellum (deep nuclei) and trigeminal nerve in rats.9 On the basis of their experimental results, these authors hypothesized that patients with chronic silver exposure and argyria, who present with loss of coordination, cerebellar ataxia, convulsions and electroencephalograph changes, would have silver sulphide deposition throughout the brain.9
Our patient developed a slowly progressive neurodegenerative disorder over a period of four years, the onset of his symptoms following the commencement of his self-medication with a colloidal silver preparation.
Another novel feature of this case is the low serum selenium concentration.
Silver inhibits the activity of the selenoprotein glutathione peroxidise in the liver tissue as shown in in vitro studies by binding selenium and thus inducing selenium deficiency.10 Moreover, it has been reported in experimental tests that selenium reduces the cytostatic effect of silver and delays the silver-induced liver necrosis triggered by glutathione peroxidase inhibition.11,12 Selenium antagonizes silver ions and causes accumulation of silver in nanocrystals in the brain tissue12–14 that would suggest its potential as an antidote for silver intoxication. Finally, silver ions are believed to be toxic until they are bound to functional groups and finally deposited in silver-sulphur/silver-selenium compounds.14
It should be noted that selenium deficiency-related seizures have been described in children15 and that antioxidant depletion in the elderly may be associated with cognitive impairment.16
The hypotheses based on results from experimental studies could explain the low level of selenium in our patient. Low serum selenium is seen in the presence of infection, but in this patient the selenium concentration remained low after recovery from the infection. It suggests that selenium ions were deposited as silver selenide compounds in tissues.
Raised silver concentration long after the patient abstained from colloidal silver preparation indicates the constant release of these ions from the tissue pools.
Chemist ANDREW CUTLER wrote: “Silver is a toxic element which accumulates and is almost impossible to chelate” (“The mercury detoxification manual” page 56).
Having the greatest electrical and thermal conductivity of all metals, silver ions generate Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and highly reactive free radicals (such as Hydroxyl Radical or Singlet Oxygen) which in the moments when they “pluck” electrons needed for stabilization from diverse places in the body, cause agonizing sufferings, impossible to describe in words.
Link:
Unintentional silver intoxication following self-medication: an unusual case of corticobasal degeneration
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1258/acb.2009.009082
Links/sources:
Silver
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver
All about silver poisoning
https://ro.studiowoon-en.nl/all-about-silver-poisoning-3511
Genotoxicity of silver and titanium dioxide nanoparticles in bone marrow cells of rats in vivo
Influence of silver nanoparticles on neurons and blood-brain barrier via subcutaneous injection in rats
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169433208015092?via%3Dihub
Silver Nanoparticle Induced Blood-Brain Barrier Inflammation and Increased Permeability in Primary Rat Brain Microvessel Endothelial Cells
https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article-abstract/118/1/160/1664864?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Unintentional silver intoxication following self-medication: an unusual case of corticobasal degeneration
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1258/acb.2009.009082
Dilated cardiomyopathy and left bundle branch block associated with ingestion of colloidal gold and silver is reversed by British antiLewisite and vitamin E: The potential toxicity of metals used as health supplements
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2643143/
[Book] – The mercury detoxification manual (2019) (Andrew Hall Cutler, Rebecca Rust Lee)