Comparison of cytotoxicity and expression of metal regulatory genes in zebrafish (Danio rerio) liver cells exposed to cadmium sulfate, zinc sulfate and quantum dots

Abstract

Recent advances in the ability to manufacture and manipulate materials at the nanometer scale have led to increased production and use of many types of nanoparticles. Quantum dots (QDs) are small, fluorescent nanoparticles composed of a core of semiconductor material (e.g. cadmium selenide, zinc sulfide) and shells or dopants of other elements. Particle core composition, size, shell, and surface chemistry have all been found to influence toxicity in cells. The aim of this study was to compare the toxicities of ionic cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) and Cd- and Zn-containing QDs in zebrafish liver cells (ZFL). As expected, Cd(2+) was more toxic than Zn(2+), and the general trend of IC50-24 h values of QDs was determined to be CdTe < CdSe/ZnS or InP/ZnS, suggesting that ZnS-shelled CdSe/ZnS QDs were more cytocompatible than bare core CdTe crystals. Smaller QDs showed greater toxicity than larger QDs. Isolated mRNA from these exposures was used to measure the expression of metal response genes including metallothionein (MT), metal response element-binding transcription factor (MTF-1), divalent metal transporter (DMT-1), zrt and irt like protein (ZIP-1) and the zinc transporter, ZnT-1. CdTe exposure induced expression of these genes in a dose dependent manner similar to that of CdSO4 exposure. However, CdSe/ZnS and InP/ZnS altered gene expression of metal homeostasis genes in a manner different from that of the corresponding Cd or Zn salts. This implies that ZnS shells reduce QD toxicity attributed to the release of Cd(2+), but do not eliminate toxic effects caused by the nanoparticles themselves.

Zebrafish liver (ZFL) cells are able to mount an anti-viral response after stimulation with Poly (I:C)

“…However, ZFL showed differential expression patterns in response to 17alpha-ethynylestradiol when compared with hepatocyte primary cell cultures (Eide et al, 2014), pointing out the importance of performing further characterisation studies on these cells. For the moment, the ZFL cell line has been mainly used for toxicology and ecotoxicology studies (Tang et al, 2013;Cavalcante et al, 2014). For instance, gene transcription and expression or metabolism, have been studied following exposure to different metal ions (Chan et al, 2006;Cheuk et al, 2008;Sandrini et al, 2009; and nanoparticles Christen et al, 2013), as well as brominated flame retardants, pharmaceuticals or 17alpha-ethynylestradiol (Pomati et al, 2007;Kling and Förlin, 2009;Teng et al, 2013).…”

Association of miR-193b Down-regulation and miR-196a up-Regulation with Clinicopathological Features and Prognosis in Gastric Cancer

“…After the reverse transcription reaction, RT-PCR was performed by the ABI 7300 Real-Time PCR System (Applied Biosystems ® , Foster City, CA, USA). RT-PCR amplification conditions were 94°C for 10 min, followed by 40 cycles of 95°C for 15sec, and 60°C for 60sec in a 20μL reaction volume (Tang et al, 2013a;Tang et al, 2013b (Xi et al, 2007). The 2 -ΔΔCt method was used to determine the relative miRNA expression ratios of miR-193b and miR196a, in which data were normalized with RNU6 (Shen et al, 2013a).…”

Hepatotoxicity assessment of Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots after repeated administration in&nbsp;mice

“…1,2 QDs have tunable emission wavelengths and can be excited over a broad wavelength range. 3,4 Moreover, QDs are much brighter than traditional organic dyes, with higher quantum yields and resistance to photobleaching.…”