The Effect of a 20-Minute Exposure of Colloidal Silver on the Membrane of Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes and Raji Cells

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Apoptosis (programmed cell death) is an important form of physiological cell death displayed under divergent conditions by an enormous variety of tissues. Apoptosis can be characterized by cell shrinkage, membrane blebbing, and DNA fragmentation (1). Data from recent reports have suggested that many types of cancer are accompanied by the loss of apoptotic ability (2). Many manufacturers have hailed colloidal silver as an effective treatment of many diseases including cancer (3). The FDA has recently finalized a rule stating that drug products containing colloidal silver or silver salts are not recognized as safe and effective. They conclude that product labels claiming that scientific evidence suggests otherwise are incorrect (4). In this study we undertook to examine the effects of colloidal silver on both Raji cells, a B lymphocyte lymphoma, (ATCC # CCL-86) and normal, peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). We noted a decrease in viability of 90% in both Raji cells and lymphocytes after exposure to colloidal silver.