In Vivo Toxicity Evaluation of PEGylated CuInS2/ZnS Quantum Dots in BALB/c Mice.

Wenyi Zou,Dongmeng Liu,Guimiao Lin,Xiaomei Wang,Tingting Chen,Li Li,Jie Wang,Zhiwen Yang,Yajing Chen

doi:10.3389/fphar.2019.00437

Wenyi Zou, Dongmeng Liu + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2019.00437

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Abstract

In recent years, quantum dots (QDs) have emerged as a potential contrast agent for bioimaging due to their bright luminescence and excellent photostability. However, the wide use of QDs in vivo has been limited due to underlying toxicity caused by leakage of heavy metals. Although non-cadmium QDs have been developed to resolve this issue, a comprehensive understanding of the toxicity of these newly developed QDs remains elusive. In this study, we administered PEGylated copper indium sulfide/zinc sulfide (CuInS2/ZnS), which are typical non-cadmium QDs, and analyzed the long-term effects of these nanoparticles in BALB/c mice. Body weight, hematology, blood biochemistry, organ histology, and biodistribution were examined at different time points. We found no significant difference in body weight after injection of CuInS2/ZnS QDs. These CuInS2/ZnS QDs entered and were accumulated in major organs for 90 days post-injection. The majority of biochemical indicators were not significantly different between the QDs-treated group and the control group. In addition, no significant histopathological abnormalities were observed in the treated mice compared with the control mice. CuInS2/ZnS QDs did not lead to observable toxicity in vivo following either the administration of a high or low dose. Our research not only provides direct evidence of the bio-safety of CuInS2/ZnS QDs, but also a feasible method for evaluating nanoparticle toxicity.

Highlights

Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanomaterials composed of a finite number of atoms, are three-dimensional in the order of nanometers, and include CdSe, CdTe, and PbS (Veeranarayanan et al, 2012)
We systematically investigated the in vivo longterm toxicity of CuInS2/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) terminated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) functional groups, which are normally used to modify the surface of nanoparticles in order to increase their in vivo biocompatibility
These results showed that the CuInS2/ZnS QDs were biocompatible in mice

Summary

Introduction

Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanomaterials composed of a finite number of atoms, are three-dimensional in the order of nanometers, and include CdSe, CdTe, and PbS (Veeranarayanan et al, 2012). QDs have many attractive optical properties, such as strong fluorescent intensity, wide excitation spectra, narrow emission spectra, resistance to photobleaching, and strong stability. QDs are widely used in bioimaging, drug delivery, optical sensing, and biological labeling (Lin et al, 2015b; Peng et al, 2018; Zhou et al, 2018). A number of studies have shown that QDs are distributed in major organs and can accumulate in some tissues for a long period (Li et al, 2016). Many cell lines can take up QDs, which leads to damage such as reduced cell viability, induction of apoptosis, oxidative stress, and cell morphology changes (Chen et al, 2018)

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