Toxicity of carbon group quantum dots

Carbon group quantum dots (QDs) such as carbon, silicon and germanium, have potential for biomedical applications such as bio-imaging markers and drug delivery systems and are expected to demonstrate several advantages over conventional fluorescent QDs such as CdSe, especially in biocompatibility. We assessed biocompatibility of newly manufactured silicon QDs (Si-QDs), by means of both MTT assay and LDH assay for HeLa cells in culture and thereby detected the cellular toxicity by administration of high concentration of Si-QD (>1000 μg/mL), while we detected the high toxicity by administration of over 100 μg/mL of CdSe-QDs. As a hypothesis for the cause of the cellular toxicity, we measured oxy-radical generation from the QDs by means of luminol reaction method. We detected generation of oxy-radicals from the Si-QDs and those were decreased by radical scavenger such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and N-acetyl cysteine (NAC). We concluded that the Si-QD application to cultured cells in high concentration led cell membrane damage by oxy-radicals and combination usage with radical scavenger is one of the answers.

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