a Chemistry Group, Faculty of Basic Sciences , University of Mohaghegh Ardabili , Ardabil , Iran.
b Cancer Gene Therapy Research Center, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences , Zanjan , Iran.
Toxicol Mech Methods. 2018 Sep;28(7):539-546. doi: 10.1080/15376516.2018.1471635. Epub 2018 May 21.
Quantum dots (QDs) have widespread application in many fields such as medicine and electronics. The need for understanding the potentially harmful side effects of these materials becomes clear. In this study, the toxicity of cadmium telluride quantum dots (CdTe-QDs) and bulk Cd has been investigated and compared by applying metabolomics methods. The datasets were H-NMR data from mice plasma which had been taken from four groups of mice in different time intervals. Then, the data were analyzed by applying chemometrics methods and the metabolites were found from Human Metabolome Database (HMDB). The results showed the significant change in the level of some metabolites especially estrogenic steroids in different groups with different amounts of received Cd. The findings also indicated that steroid hormone biosynthesis, lysine biosynthesis and taurine and hypotaurine metabolism are the most affected pathways by CdTe-QDs especially in estrogenic steroids. The over-representation analysis indicated that endoplasmic reticulum, gonads, and hepatocytes are most affected. Since the pattern of metabolite alteration of CdTe-QDs with equivalent Cd was similar to those of CdCl, it was postulated that beside Cd effects, the toxicity of CdTe-QDs is associated with other factors.
量子点 (QDs) 在医学和电子等许多领域都有广泛的应用。因此，了解这些材料可能产生的有害副作用变得尤为重要。在这项研究中，我们通过代谢组学方法研究并比较了碲化镉量子点 (CdTe-QDs) 和块状 Cd 的毒性。数据集是来自不同时间间隔的四组小鼠血浆的 H-NMR 数据。然后，我们通过应用化学计量学方法对数据进行分析，并从人类代谢组数据库 (HMDB) 中找到了代谢物。结果表明，不同 Cd 剂量组的一些代谢物，特别是雌激素类固醇的水平发生了显著变化。研究结果还表明，甾体激素生物合成、赖氨酸生物合成以及牛磺酸和次牛磺酸代谢是受 CdTe-QDs 影响最大的途径，尤其是对雌激素类固醇的影响最大。过表达分析表明，内质网、性腺和肝细胞受影响最大。由于具有等效 Cd 的 CdTe-QDs 的代谢物变化模式与 CdCl 的相似，因此可以推测，除了 Cd 的影响外，CdTe-QDs 的毒性还与其他因素有关。
