题目：

Linking Subcellular Disturbance to Physiological Behavior and Toxicity Induced by Quantum Dots in Caenorhabditis Elegans

作者：

Qin Wang, Yanfeng Zhou, Bin Song, Yiling Zhong, Sicong Wu, Rongrong Cui,  Haixia Cong, Yuanyuan Su, Huimin Zhang* and Yao He*

单位：

¹Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, People’s Republic of China

²Institutes of Biology and Medical Sciences (IBMS), Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China

³Laboratory of Physical Biology, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China

摘要：

The wide-ranging applications of fluorescent semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have triggered increasing concerns about their biosafety. Most QDs-related toxicity studies focus on the subcellular processes in cultured cells or global physiological effects on whole animals. However, it is unclear how QDs affect subcellular processes in live organisms, or how the subcellular disturbance contributes to the overall toxicity. Here we systematically investigate the behavior and toxicity of QDs of three different sizes in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) at both the systemic and the subcellular level. Specifically, we observe clear size-dependent distribution and toxicity of the QDs in the digestive tract. Short-term exposure of QDs leads to acute toxicity on C. elegans, yet incurring no lasting, irreversible damage. In contrast, chronic exposure of QDs severely inhibits development and shortens life span. Subcellular analysis reveals that endocytosis and nutrition storage are disrupted by QDs, which likely account for the severe deterioration in growth and longevity. Our work reveals that QDs invasion disrupts key subcellular processes in live organisms, and may cause permanent damage to the tissues and organs over long-term retention. Our findings provide invaluable information for safety evaluations of QDs-based applications, and offer new opportunities for design of novel nontoxic nanoprobes.

影响因子：

8.368

分区情况：

1区

链接：

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smll.201600766

(责任编辑：杨阳，联系方式：yangyangcnst@suda.edu.cn)