Toxicity of CdTe Quantum Dots in Bacterial Strains

Author

Dumas, Eve-Marei ; Ozenne, Valéry ; Mielke, Randall E. ; Nadeau, Jay L.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Biomed. Eng., McGill Univ., Montreal, QC

Volume

8

Issue

1

fYear

2009

fDate

3/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

58

Lastpage

64

Abstract

Contradictory results on quantum dot cytotoxicity exist for many types of biological systems, especially microorganisms. In this study, we compare the cytotoxicity of CdTe quantum dots (QDs) to four very different environmental bacterial strains, giving quantitative models of the growth curves for exposed organisms. The mechanisms of toxicity are explored by measuring reactive oxygen species generation by the QDs alone and investigating the oxidative damage to mutant bacteria especially sensitive to ROS. Electron microscopic examination also reveals factors that may contribute to resistance to nanoparticles in some strains.

Keywords

biological techniques; cadmium compounds; cellular effects of radiation; electron microscopy; microorganisms; nanoparticles; quantum dots; toxicology; CdTe; electron microscopy; environmental bacterial strain; microorganism; nanoparticle; quantum dot cytotoxicity; reactive oxygen species generation measurement; Bacteria; CdTe; quantum dot (QD); reactive oxygen species (ROS); Apoptosis; Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; Cadmium Compounds; Cell Proliferation; Cell Survival; Quantum Dots; Reactive Oxygen Species; Species Specificity; Tellurium;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

NanoBioscience, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1536-1241

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNB.2009.2017313

Filename

4801972