Research Advances on Cytotoxicity of Cadmium-Containing Quantum Dots

Quantum dots (QDs), as advanced nanotechnology products, have been widely used in the field of biology and biomedicine, due to their superior optical properties. The bio-safety evaluation of QDs therefore becomes more and more important along with a growing number of studies concerning the potential toxicity of QDs in recent years. In this review, applications of cadmium-containing QDs in bio-medicine fields and their toxic effects on different cells, such as liver cells, kidney cells, lung cells, nervous system cells and fibroblast cells, were introduced. The toxicity mechanisms for QDs causing these adverse effects are also summarized in the end, which include increased synthesis of ROS, immune toxicity, toxicity of QDs synthetic materials, cellular calcium homeostasis dysregulation and DNA damage. This review aims to shade light on future toxicology researches on QDs, which is a topic deserving further exploration.