Nephrotoxicity Evaluation of Indium Phosphide Quantum Dots with Different Surface Modifications in BALB/c Mice

Li Li,Huiyu Xiao,Tingting Chen,Gaixia Xu,Xiaomei Wang,Jiangyao Xu,Kan Liu,Dongmeng Liu,Guimiao Lin,Zhiwen Yang,Maixian Liu,Yajing Chen,Shikang Liu

doi:10.3390/ijms21197137

Abstract

InP QDs have shown a great potential as cadmium-free QDs alternatives in biomedical applications. It is essential to understand the biological fate and toxicity of InP QDs. In this study, we investigated the in vivo renal toxicity of InP/ZnS QDs terminated with different functional groups—hydroxyl (hQDs), amino (aQDs) and carboxyl (cQDs). After a single intravenous injection into BALB/c mice, blood biochemistry, QDs distribution, histopathology, inflammatory response, oxidative stress and apoptosis genes were evaluated at different predetermined times. The results showed fluorescent signals from QDs could be detected in kidneys during the observation period. No obvious changes were observed in histopathological detection or biochemistry parameters. Inflammatory response and oxidative stress were found in the renal tissues of mice exposed to the three kinds of QDs. A significant increase of KIM-1 expression was observed in hQDs and aQDs groups, suggesting hQDs and aQDs could cause renal involvement. Apoptosis-related genes (Bax, Caspase 3, 7 and 9) were up-regulated in hQDs and aQDs groups. The above results suggested InP/ZnS QDs with different surface chemical properties would cause different biological behaviors and molecular actions in vivo. The surface chemical properties of QDs should be fully considered in the design of InP/ZnS QDs for biomedical applications.

Highlights

The integration of emerging nanotechnology into various biomolecules has aroused great interest in the fields of biology and medicine
We investigated the renal toxicity of indium phosphide (InP)/ZnS Quantum dots (QDs) with different surface modifications in BALB/c mice
The above results illustrated that the three water-soluble InP/ZnS QDs with different modifications have uniform size and good optical properties

Summary

Introduction

The integration of emerging nanotechnology into various biomolecules has aroused great interest in the fields of biology and medicine. Quantum dots (QDs), composed of group II–IV or III–V elements, have been extensively used in a wide range of biomedical applications and shown great potential in imaging, therapeutic functions and biosensors [1]. Compared with conventional fluorescent materials, QDs have the characteristics of high quantum yield, light bleaching resistance, a wide absorption spectrum, and a narrow and symmetrical emission spectrum [2]. The outer layer of QDs can be functionalized by different materials for different purpose. With these advantages, QDs have broad application prospects in biomedicine. Functionalized QDs can be used as drug carriers for high-precision delivery, and as fluorescent probes for specific organ or tumor imaging in vivo [3,4]. The biological toxicity caused by QDs has attracted the attention of researchers, and many toxicological studies on QDs have been carried out for this purpose

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion