Toxicology

Biography

Biography: Deniz Özkan Vardar

Abstract

Nanomaterials have received enormous attention for their potential applications in biology and medicine. A key issue in evaluating the utility of these materials is the assessment of their potential toxicity−either due to their inherent chemical composition or as a consequence of their nanoscale properties. Quantum dots are an example of a nanomaterial that has been shown to be useful as an alternative to fluorescent dyes for use in biological imaging, due to their bright fluorescence, narrow emission, broad UV excitation, and high photo stability. In addition to labeling of cellular structures in vitro, several groups have demonstrated the use of quantum dots (QDs) for fluorescence imaging in vivo. Several in vitro and in vivo studies have been cited in the literature as demonstrating the lack of evidence for QD-induced cytotoxicity. The sensitivity of the cytotoxicity assay used differs depending on the different mechanisms, which lead to cell death. The MTT assay is simple and rapid to use, which determines, the metabolic activity of the mitochondria can be determined. We aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of silver sulfide quantum dots coated with 2-Mercaptopropionic acid (2MPA) and Meso-2, 3-dimercapto succinic acid (DMSA) because of the lack of studies in this area. Cytotoxicity was evaluated by the MTT assay in HeLa cells. Our results showed that Ag2S QDs were not cytotoxic effects after 24 h exposure.