title: Cytotoxicity of quantum dots assay on a microfluidic 3D-culture device based on modeling diffusion process between blood vessels and tissues.
abstract: In this work, a novel quantum dot (QD) cytotoxicity assay platform on a microfluidic three-dimensional (3D) culture device via imitating the diffusion process between blood vessels and tissues was developed. The device is composed of a main channel and two sets of cell culture chambers. The cell culture chambers were located at different distances from the main channel and were divided into "close chambers" and "far chambers". HepG2 cells were cultured in an agarose matrix under 3D conditions and kept at high viability for at least three days. Fluorescein sodium and fluorescein isothiocyanate conjugated to bovine serum albumin (FITC-BSA) were used as models to demonstrate the diffusion process between main channel and cell culture chambers. QD cytotoxicity was evaluated by determining cell apoptosis, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and glutathione (GSH) with specific fluorescence probes. Cell autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) could reduce cell apoptosis at low concentrations of QDs, which proves that cell autophagy plays a key role in QD cytotoxicity. The effect of a series of 3-MA solutions on cell apoptosis at QD concentration of 40 μg mL(-1) was investigated, which showed that the percentage of cell apoptosis decreased ∼15% from 0 to 12 mM 3-MA. The device shows potential as a high-throughput, low-cost and time-saving platform and constructs a more vivid biomimetic microenvironment for the QD cytotoxicity study.
authors: Beijing Key Laboratory of Microanalytical Method and Instrumentation, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Wu
authors: Qiushui
authors: Q
authors: Chen
authors: Wu
authors: W
authors: Liu
authors: Yandong
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Jin-Ming
authors: JM
authors: Lin
mesh_terms: D000225:Adenine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D032701:Biomimetics; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000502:physiology*; D002417:Cattle; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004058:Diffusion; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate / Q000737:chemistry; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008954:Models, Biological; D045663:Quantum Dots; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine; C025946:3-methyladenine; D005978:Glutathione; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate; D000225:Adenine