Title : The Cellular Uptake And Cytotoxicity Of Cadmium Telluride Quantum Dots In Human Cancer Cell Lines
Abstract:
Quantum Dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanocrystals that are increasingly used in biology. QDs, especially cadmium based QDs, play an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer due to their intrinsic fluorescence. However, great concerns exist regarding their toxicity in biomedical applications. Understanding the cellular uptake mechanisms of CdTe QDs and evaluation of their cytotoxicity will be discussed in this presentation. The breast cancer cells and the ovarian cancer cell lines were treated with different concentrations of QDs, and cell viability was evaluated. Hoechst staining, apoptotic DNA fragmentation and flow cytometric annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) measurement was used for apoptosis detection. Intrinsic fluorescence and cellular internalization of CdTe QDs were assessed using flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy imaging. A significant decrease in cell viability was observed after QDs treatment. Apoptotic bodies, chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation as well as flow cytometry analysis confirmed apoptosis. The results of flow cytometry showed that the cellular uptake of CdTe QDs is a dose-dependent and time-dependent process. This line of study would help realizing the underlying cytotoxicity and cellular uptake mechanism of CdTe QDs and may provide information for the development of nanotoxicology and safe use of biological applications of QDs in diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
