A real-time documentation and mechanistic investigation of quantum dots-induced autophagy in live Caenorhabditis elegans

作者：Zhou Yanfeng; Wang Qin; Song Bin; Wu Sicong; Su Yuanyuan; Zhang Huimin; He Yao^*

来源：Biomaterials, 2015, 72: 38-48.

DOI：10.1016/j.biomaterials.2015.08.044

• Autophagy
• Quantum dots
• Caenorhabditis elegans
• Endosome
• In vivo

Autophagy is a highly important intracellular process for the degradation of endogenous or foreign contents in the cytoplasm. Though nanomaterials-induced autophagy has been extensively studied, real-time information about the autophagic process induced by nanomaterials in live organisms remains unknown. Here by using Caenorhabditis elegans as the model organism and fluorescent semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) as a representative nanomaterial, we systematically investigated the phenomenon of QDs-induced autophagy in live organisms. Our results demonstrated that the internalized QDs trigger a complete autophagic process in C. elegans intestinal cells. Further investigations revealed that this QD-induced autophagy in C elegans is neither a response to released heavy metal ions by the QDs, nor an attempt to engulf exogenous QD materials, but a defensive strategy of the organism to clear and recycle damaged endosomes. Of particular significance, for the first time, we presented real-time tracking of autophagosomes formation in live organisms, providing detailed temporal-spatial information of this process. This study may help us better understand the relationship between nanomaterials and autophagy in vivo, and provide invaluable information for safety evaluation and bio-application of nanomaterials.

• 出版日期2015-12
• 单位苏州大学