ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors show in a pilot study that rhesus macaques injected with phospholipid micelle-encapsulated CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots do not exhibit evidence of toxicity. Fitzpatrick et al. intravenously injected amphiphilic polymer-coated quantum dots into mice and found slow degradation of quantum dots over time in vivo, leading to alterations in quantum dot fluorescence, suggesting that toxico-logical parameters may change with residence time of the quantum dot in tissue. Encapsulated quantum dots were administrated to six monkeys by intravenous drip. An improved understanding of the toxicity of various quantum dot formulations is essential, and long-term toxicological and pharmacokinetic investigations involving the degradation, excretion, persistence and immune response of quantum dots will ultimately be needed for designing quantum-dot-based probes for imaging and therapy. Through non-human primate studies, the toxicity and pharmacokinetics of quantum dot formulations can be investigated in greater detail and with lower risk, time and cost than in human clinical trials.
