Abnormal neural differentiation in response to graphene quantum dots through histone modification interference

Tingting Ku; Zhihua Ren; Renjun Yang; Qian S Liu; Nan Sang; Francesco Faiola; Qunfang Zhou; Guibin Jiang

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2022.107572

Abnormal neural differentiation in response to graphene quantum dots through histone modification interference

Environ Int. 2022 Dec:170:107572. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107572. Epub 2022 Oct 6.

Authors

Tingting Ku¹, Zhihua Ren², Renjun Yang², Qian S Liu², Nan Sang³, Francesco Faiola⁴, Qunfang Zhou⁵, Guibin Jiang⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; College of Environment and Resource, Research Center of Environment and Health, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, 030006, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
³ College of Environment and Resource, Research Center of Environment and Health, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, 030006, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Institute of Environment and Health, Jianghan University, Wuhan 430056, China. Electronic address: zhouqf@rcees.ac.cn.

PMID: 36228552
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107572

Abstract

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have been broadly applied in biomedicine in recent years, and their environmental exposure and toxicological impacts have raised increasing concerns. The nanosafety assessment on the nervous system is one of the most important aspects, and potential effects of GQDs on neurodevelopment and the underlying mechanism are still elusive. In this study, the neural developmental toxicities of OH-GQDs and NH₂-GQDs were investigated using the mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). The results revealed that OH-GQDs significantly inhibited the ectoderm development, and reduced the neural precursor formation and neurogenesis during the neural differentiation of the mESCs. The exploration on the mechanism uncovered that the increased enrichment of H3K27me3 at the promoter region of the Smad6 gene was involved in histone modification-activated BMP signal pathway, which consequently influenced its regulatory effects on neural differentiation. Additionally, OH-GQDs elicited a stronger effect on inducing the imbalance of histone modification, and resulted in higher latency of neural differentiation disturbance than did NH₂-GQDs, suggesting surface functionalization-specific effects of GQDs on neurodevelopmental toxicity. This study would provide new insights in not only the adverse effects of GQDs on neurodevelopment, but also the influence from the chemical modification of GQDs on their bioactivities.

Keywords: BMP signaling pathway; Embryonic stem cells; Graphene quantum dots; Histone modification; Neural differentiation.

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Differentiation
Graphite* / toxicity
Histone Code
Mice

Substances

Graphite