We employed Caenorhabditis elegans assay system to investigate in vivo neurotoxicity of CdTe quantum dots (QDs) on RMEs motor neurons, which are involved in controlling foraging behavior, and the underlying mechanism of such neurotoxicity. After prolonged exposure to 0.1-1 μg/L of CdTe QDs, abnormal foraging behavior and deficits in development of RMEs motor neurons were observed. The observed ...

Developing methods to label viruses with fluorescent moieties has its merits in elucidating viral infection mechanisms and exploring novel antiviral therapeutics. Fluorescent quantum dots (QDs), an emerging probe for biological imaging and medical diagnostics, were employed in this study to tag retrovirus encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) genes. Electrostatic repulsion forces g...

Semiconductor quantum dots are tiny light-emitting nanocrystals (2-10 nm) that have captivated researchers in the biomedical field in the last decade. Compared to organic dyes and fluorescent proteins, quantum dots (QDs) have unique optical properties such as tunable emission spectra, improved brightness, superior photostability, and simultaneous excitation of multiple fluorescence colors. Sinc...

Quantum dots (QDs) have been considered to be promising probes for biosensing, bioimaging, and diagnosis. However, their toxicity issues caused by heavy metals in QDs remain to be addressed, in particular for their in vivo biomedical applications. In this study, a parallel comparative investigation in vitro and in vivo is presented to disclose the impact of synthetic methods and their following...

The vast application of fluorescent semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs) or quantum dots (QDs) has prompted the development of new, cheap and safer methods that allow generating QDs with improved biocompatibility. In this context, green or biological QDs production represents a still unexplored area. This work reports the intracellular CdTe QDs biosynthesis in bacteria. Escherichia coli overexpres...

BACKGROUND The toxicity of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) in the environment and biological systems has become a major concern for the nanoparticle community. However, the potential toxicity of QDs on immune cells and its corresponding immune functions remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the immunotoxicity of CdSe/ZnS QDs using the in vitro in macrophages and lymphocytes and ...

Most of the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based sensors employing quantum dots (QDs) usually use organic fluorophores and gold nanoparticles as the quenchers. However, complex processes for the modification/immobilization of the QDs are always necessary, as the generation of FRET requires strict distance between the donor and acceptor. Herein, a simple chemical redox strategy fo...

ABSTRACT Quantum dots (QDs) are fluorescence nanoparticles (NPs) with unique optic properties which allow their use as probes in chemical, biological, immunological, and molecular imaging. QDs linked with target ligands such as peptides or small molecules can be used as tumor biomarkers. These particles are a promising tool for selective, fast, and sensitive tagging and imaging in medicine. In ...

Quantum dots (QDs) have been widely used as fluorescent probes in cell-targeted imaging. However, nonspecific binding to cellular membranes has been a major challenge. In this study, a new approach is developed for effective reduction of nonspecific binding by bovine serum albumin (BSA)-coated QDs in cell targeting. The experimental results show efficient transfer of hydrophobic QDs from organi...

Quantum dots (QDs) have many intriguing properties suitable for biomedical imaging applications. The poor tissue penetration of optical imaging in general, including those using QDs, has motivated the development of various QD-based dual-modality imaging agents. In this issue of AJNMMI (http://www.ajnmmi.us), Sun et al. reported the synthesis and in vitro/in vivo characterization of intrinsical...