In vivo toxicity assessment of non-cadmium quantum dots in BALB/c mice

Guimiao Lin; Qingling Ouyang; Rui Hu; Zhangchi Ding; Jinglin Tian; Feng Yin; Gaixia Xu; Qiang Chen; Xiaomei Wang; Ken-Tye Yong

doi:10.1016/j.nano.2014.10.002

In vivo toxicity assessment of non-cadmium quantum dots in BALB/c mice

Nanomedicine. 2015 Feb;11(2):341-50. doi: 10.1016/j.nano.2014.10.002. Epub 2014 Nov 20.

Authors

Guimiao Lin¹, Qingling Ouyang², Rui Hu³, Zhangchi Ding¹, Jinglin Tian¹, Feng Yin³, Gaixia Xu⁴, Qiang Chen¹, Xiaomei Wang¹, Ken-Tye Yong⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Lab of Biomedical Engineering and Shenzhen Key lab of Translational Medicine of Tumor, School of Medicine, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
² Key Lab of Biomedical Engineering and Shenzhen Key lab of Translational Medicine of Tumor, School of Medicine, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China; School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
³ School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Optoelectronics Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education/Guangdong Province, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, P. R. China.
⁵ School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Electronic address: ktyong@ntu.edu.sg.

PMID: 25461291
DOI: 10.1016/j.nano.2014.10.002

Abstract

Along with widespread usage of QDs in electronic and biomedical industries, the likelihood of QDs exposure to the environment and humans is deemed to occur when the QD products are degraded or handled as waste for processing. To date, there are very few toxicological reports available in the literature for non-cadmium QDs in animal models. In this work, we studied the long term in vivo toxicity of InP/ZnS QDs in BALB/c mice. The biodistribution, body weight, hematology, blood biochemistry, and organ histology were determined at a very high dosage (25 mg/kg) of InP/ZnS QDs over 84 days period. Our results manifested that the QDs formulation did not result in observable toxicity in vivo within the evaluation period, thereby suggesting that the InP/ZnS QDs can be utilized as optical probes or nanocarrier for selected in vivo biological applications when an optimized dosage is employed.

From the clinical editor: This study investigated the toxicity of quantum dots in BALB/c mice, and concluded that no organotoxicity was detectable despite of using high concentration of InP/ZnS quantum dots with prolonged exposure of 3 months.

Keywords: Biodistribution; Indium phosphide; Quantum dots; Toxicity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Humans
Indium / toxicity*
Mice
Mice, Inbred BALB C
Nanoparticles / toxicity*
Phosphines / toxicity*
Quantum Dots / toxicity*
Tissue Distribution / drug effects
Zinc Sulfate / toxicity*

Substances

Phosphines
Indium
Zinc Sulfate
indium phosphide