Journal of Nanomedicine & Nanotechnology

A reproductive toxicity study shows the properly encapsulated cadmium-based quantum dots are well-tolerated by mice

3^rd International Conference on Nanotek & Expo

December 02-04, 2013 Hampton Inn Tropicana, Las Vegas, NV, USA

Jianwei Liu, Ling Ye, Ken-Tye Yong, Rui Hu, Jing Liu, Liwei Liu, Yazhuo Hu, Hongyan Chen and Jinghui Yang

Accepted Abstracts: J Nanomed Nanotechnol

Abstract:

Cadmium-based nanocrystals are among the brightest, best-studied and most widely available quantum dots for bioimaging. However, concerns over the cytotoxicity of their cadmium content have limited their medical translation applications. Reproductive toxicity assessment is one of the important parts of the nanomaterials biosafety evaluation. In the present study, the reproductive toxicity of quantum dots (QDs) in Kunming mice was investigated. Female and male mice were intravenous injected with 25 mg kg-1 phospholipid micelle-encapsulated CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dot. Two weeks later, treated female and male mice were caged in pairs for mating. The following determination demonstrated there were no significant reproductive difference between QD treated and the control animals. The days of pregnancy were 21.4 ? 0.6 (the control group) and 20.6 ? 1.0 (QD group). The body weights of pregnancy mice before delivery were 55.3 ? 3.8g and 57.2 ? 4.9g. The offspring numbers were 13.5 ? 1.4 and 13.0 ? 1.5. The sex ratios of ♀ : ♂ were 6.0 : 7.4 and 6.7 : 6.1, respectively. The body weight of three weeks F1 mice were 12.0g ( ♀ ), 12.7g ( ♂ ), and 12.3g ( ♀ ), 12.6g ( ♂ ) in the control and treatment groups. Hematology, blood biochemistry, organ histology and their respective fluorescent images have shown no changes. Overall, this report indicates that the formulated micelle-encapsulated QDs were not reproductive toxic to the Kunming mice and they have the potential to be utilized for specific clinical applications such as image-guided surgery, drug and gene delivery

Biography :

Jianwei Liu graduated from the Department of Clinical Medicine, Beijing Medical University in 2000. He is the chief technician of the Institute of Geriatrics, Chinese PLA General Hospital. He has published more than 50 papers in English or Chinese. Recent researches involving nanobiology of quantum dots published on Nature Nanotechnology (2012, 7(7): 453- 458), ACS Nano (2013 Jul 15. [Epub ahead of print]), RSC Advances (2013, 3:1768 - 1773), etc.