Apoptosis induced by cadmium selenide quantum dots in JB6 cells.

Quantum dots are being widely used in physics and in the biomedical industry in recent years due to their excellent optical characteristics. However, studies have shown that cadmium selenide core-shell quantum dots exhibit cytotoxicity. The present study investigates the induction of apoptosis and the signal pathways involved in this process by cadmium selenide-core quantum dots in JB6 cells. We found that cadmium selenide-core quantum dots exhibited high cytotoxicity and caused apoptosis and necrosis of JB6 cells. Cell cycle detection showed an increase in the percentage of G1 phase cells but a decrease in the percentage of S and G2 phase cells after JB6 cells treated with various concentrations of cadmium selenide core-shell quantum dots for 24 h. At the same time, western-blot analysis showed an activation of pro-apoptotic factors including FAS, BAX and BID. Apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF), full length and cleaved caspase-6 and -8 were up-regulated. The current study provides a guide for the safe use of QDs as a new kind of biological fluorescence material for biological and medical applications.