Linking Subcellular Disturbance to Physiological Behavior and Toxicity Induced by Quantum Dots in Caenorhabditis elegans
Linking Subcellular Disturbance to Physiological Behavior and Toxicity Induced by Quantum Dots in Caenorhabditis elegans
复制标题
将亚细胞干扰与量子点诱导的秀丽隐杆线虫生理行为和毒性联系起来
DOI：
10.1002/smll.201600766
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发表时间：
2016-06-15
期刊：
影响因子：
13.3
通讯作者：
He, Yao
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Wang, Qin;Zhou, Yanfeng;He, Yao
荧光半导体量子点的广泛应用引发了人们对其生物安全性的日益关注。大多数QD相关的毒性研究集中在培养细胞的亚细胞过程或对整个动物的整体生理效应。然而，目前还不清楚量子点如何影响活生物体中的亚细胞过程，或者亚细胞干扰如何导致整体毒性。本文研究了三种不同大小的量子点在秀丽隐杆线虫（C.habditis elegans）中的行为和毒性。elegans）在系统和亚细胞水平上进行了系统研究。具体而言，观察到QD在消化道中的明显尺寸依赖性分布和毒性。短时间接触量子点对C. elegans，yet然而incurred招致no longer持久，unrestorable不可逆damage损害.相反，长期暴露于量子点会严重抑制发育并缩短寿命。亚细胞分析表明，内吞作用和营养储存被量子点破坏，这可能是生长和寿命严重恶化的原因。这项工作表明，量子点的入侵会破坏生物体中的关键亚细胞过程，并可能在长期保留期间对组织和器官造成永久性损伤。这些发现为基于QD的应用的安全性评估提供了宝贵的信息，并为设计新型无毒纳米探针提供了新的机会。
The wide-ranging applications of fluorescent semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have triggered increasing concerns about their biosafety. Most QD-related toxicity studies focus on the subcellular processes in cultured cells or global physiological effects on whole animals. However, it is unclear how QDs affect subcellular processes in living organisms, or how the subcellular disturbance contributes to the overall toxicity. Here the behavior and toxicity of QDs of three different sizes in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) are systematically investigated at both the systemic and the subcellular level. Specifically, clear size-dependent distribution and toxicity of the QDs in the digestive tract are observed. Short-term exposure of QDs leads to acute toxicity on C. elegans, yet incurring no lasting, irreversible damage. In contrast, chronic exposure of QDs severely inhibits development and shortens lifespan. Subcellular analysis reveals that endocytosis and nutrition storage are disrupted by QDs, which likely accounts for the severe deterioration in growth and longevity. This work reveals that QDs invasion disrupts key subcellular processes in living organisms, and may cause permanent damage to the tissues and organs over long-term retention. The findings provide invaluable information for safety evaluations of QD-based applications and offer new opportunities for design of novel nontoxic nanoprobes.