Hao Wenting, Liu Shuangjie, Liu Haile, Mu Xiaoyu, Chen Ke, Xin Qi, Zhang Xiao-Dong
Tianjin International Joint Research Center for Neural Engineering, Academy of Medical Engineering and Translational Medicine, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials Physics and Preparing Technology, Institute of Advanced Materials Physics, School of Sciences, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China.
ACS Omega. 2020 Sep 16;5(38):24537-24545. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c03005. eCollection 2020 Sep 29.
Atomically precise Au(SG) clusters have shown great promise in near-infrared II cerebrovascular imaging, X-ray imaging, and cancer radiotherapy due to their high atomic number, unique molecular-like electronic structure, and renal clearable properties. Therefore, it is important to study the in vivo toxicity of Au clusters. Unfortunately, previous toxicological investigations focused on low injected doses (<100 mg kg) and routine research methods, such as blood chemistry and biochemistry, which cannot reflect neurotoxicity or tiny changes in neural activity. In this work, in vivo neuroelectrophysiology of Au clusters at ultrahigh injected doses (200, 300, and 500 mg kg) was investigated. Local field potential showed that the Au-treated mice showed a spike in delta rhythm and moved to lower frequency over time. The power spectrum showed a 38.3% reduction in the peak value at 10 h post-injection of Au clusters compared with 3 h post-injection, which gradually became close to the normal level, indicating no permanent damage to the nervous system. Moreover, no significant structural changes were found in both neurons and glial cells at the histological level. These results of in vivo neuroelectrophysiology will encourage scientists to make more exciting discoveries on nervous system diseases by employing Au clusters even at ultrahigh injected doses.
原子精确的金硫醇簇由于其高原子序数、独特的类分子电子结构和肾脏可清除特性，在近红外二区脑血管成像、X射线成像和癌症放射治疗方面展现出了巨大潜力。因此，研究金簇的体内毒性具有重要意义。遗憾的是，以往的毒理学研究集中在低注射剂量（<100 mg/kg）以及常规研究方法，如血液化学和生物化学，这些方法无法反映神经毒性或神经活动的微小变化。在这项工作中，研究了超高注射剂量（200、300和500 mg/kg）下金簇的体内神经电生理学。局部场电位显示，经金处理的小鼠在δ节律上出现尖峰，并随时间向较低频率移动。功率谱显示，与注射后3小时相比，注射金簇后10小时峰值降低了38.3%，并逐渐接近正常水平，表明对神经系统无永久性损伤。此外，在组织学水平上，神经元和神经胶质细胞均未发现明显的结构变化。这些体内神经电生理学结果将鼓励科学家们，即使在超高注射剂量下使用金簇，也能在神经系统疾病方面做出更令人兴奋的发现。
