title: Apoptosis induced by cadmium selenide quantum dots in JB6 cells.
abstract: Quantum dots are being widely used in physics and in the biomedical industry in recent years due to their excellent optical characteristics. However, studies have shown that cadmium selenide core-shell quantum dots exhibit cytotoxicity. The present study investigates the induction of apoptosis and the signal pathways involved in this process by cadmium selenide-core quantum dots in JB6 cells. We found that cadmium selenide-core quantum dots exhibited high cytotoxicity and caused apoptosis and necrosis of JB6 cells. Cell cycle detection showed an increase in the percentage of G1 phase cells but a decrease in the percentage of S and G2 phase cells after JB6 cells treated with various concentrations of cadmium selenide core-shell quantum dots for 24 h. At the same time, western-blot analysis showed an activation of pro-apoptotic factors including FAS, BAX and BID. Apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF), full length and cleaved caspase-6 and -8 were up-regulated. The current study provides a guide for the safe use of QDs as a new kind of biological fluorescence material for biological and medical applications.
authors: Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors: Lu
authors: L
authors: Kong
authors: Ting
authors: T
authors: Zhang
authors: Meng
authors: M
authors: Tang
authors: Yuepu
authors: Y
authors: Pu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001059:Apoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D019187:Cadmium Compounds / Q000633:toxicity*; D002460:Cell Line; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D004817:Epidermis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D045663:Quantum Dots; D018036:Selenium Compounds / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D001059:Apoproteins; D019187:Cadmium Compounds; D018036:Selenium Compounds; C058667:cadmium selenide