title: Cytotoxicity of cadmium-containing quantum dots based on a study using a microfluidic chip.
abstract: There is a lack of reliable nanotoxicity assays available for monitoring and quantifying multiple cellular events in cultured cells. In this study, we used a microfluidic chip to systematically investigate the cytotoxicity of three kinds of well-characterized cadmium-containing quantum dots (QDs) with the same core but different shell structures, including CdTe core QDs, CdTe/CdS core–shell QDs, and CdTe/CdS/ZnS core-shell-shell QDs, in HEK293 cells. Using the microfluidic chip combined with fluorescence microscopy, multiple QD-induced cellular events including cell morphology, viability, proliferation, and QD uptake were simultaneously analysed. The three kinds of QDs showed significantly different cytotoxicities. The CdTe QDs, which are highly toxic to HEK293 cells, resulted in remarkable cellular and nuclear morphological changes, a dose-dependent decrease in cell viability, and strong inhibition of cell proliferation; the CdTe/CdS QDs were moderately toxic but did not significantly affect the proliferation of HEK293 cells; while the CdTe/CdS/ZnS QDs had no detectable influence on cytotoxicity with respect to cell morphology, viability, and proliferation. Our data indicated that QD cytotoxicity was closely related to their surface structures and specific physicochemical properties. This study also demonstrated that the microfluidic chip could serve as a powerful tool to systematically evaluate the cytotoxicity of nanoparticles in multiple cellular events.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiannuo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Lixing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Qinghui
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Jianlong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Lianhui
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D002104:Cadmium / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000633:toxicity*; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D004867:Equipment Design; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006801:Humans; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D015162:Micronucleus Tests; D045663:Quantum Dots; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D002104:Cadmium