CdSe/ZnS Quantum Dots Impaired the First Two Generations of Placenta Growth in an Animal Model, Based on the Shh Signaling Pathway

Wuding Hong; Huijuan Kuang; Xingping He; Lin Yang; Pengfei Yang; Bolu Chen; Zoraida  P. Aguilar; Hengyi Xu

doi:10.3390/nano9020257

Nanomaterials (Feb 2019)

CdSe/ZnS Quantum Dots Impaired the First Two Generations of Placenta Growth in an Animal Model, Based on the Shh Signaling Pathway

Wuding Hong,
Huijuan Kuang,
Xingping He,
Lin Yang,
Pengfei Yang,
Bolu Chen,
Zoraida P. Aguilar,
Hengyi Xu

Affiliations

Wuding Hong: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, China
Huijuan Kuang: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, China
Xingping He: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, China
Lin Yang: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, China
Pengfei Yang: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, China
Bolu Chen: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, China
Zoraida P. Aguilar: Zystein, LLC., Fayetteville, AR 72704, USA
Hengyi Xu: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9020257
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 9, no. 2
p. 257

Abstract

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The toxicity, especially the transgenerational toxicity of quantum dots (QDs) in vivo, is still scarcely understood in spite of great promising applications of QDs in biomedicine. In this study, the maternal status, pregnancy outcome, and fetus development of parental generation (P0) to offspring in three generations (F3) were investigated after Kunming mice perinatal (GD 13-PND 5) exposure to Cd containing QDs (CdSe/ZnS QDs) and CdCl2. The results show CdSe/ZnS QDs induced placenta injuries in P0 and diminished placenta diameters in F1 and F2. Bodyweight growth decreased in the CdSe/ZnS QDs treatment group in the F1 and F2 generation. Additionally, CdSe/ZnS QDs significantly altered the expression of key genes in the Shh signal pathway. Overall, this study exhibited that the CdSe/ZnS QDs exposure during perinatal period impaired placenta growth in the first two generations, but not on the third generation. The toxicological actions of the CdSe/ZnS QDs might be through the effects on the Shh signal pathway.

Published in Nanomaterials

ISSN: 2079-4991 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science: Chemistry
Website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nanomaterials

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