A Deep Learning Analysis Reveals Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots Damage Neurons of Nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>
Along with the rapidly increasing applications of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) in the field of biomedicine, the exposure of N-GQDs undoubtedly pose a risk to the health of human beings, especially in the nervous system. In view of the lack of data from in vivo studies, this study us...
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MDPI AG
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Nanomaterials |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/11/12/3314 |
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| author | Hongsheng Xu Xinyu Wang Xiaomeng Zhang Jin Cheng Jixiang Zhang Min Chen Tianshu Wu |
| author_facet | Hongsheng Xu Xinyu Wang Xiaomeng Zhang Jin Cheng Jixiang Zhang Min Chen Tianshu Wu |
| author_sort | Hongsheng Xu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Along with the rapidly increasing applications of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) in the field of biomedicine, the exposure of N-GQDs undoubtedly pose a risk to the health of human beings, especially in the nervous system. In view of the lack of data from in vivo studies, this study used the nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> (<i>C. elegans</i>), which has become a valuable animal model in nanotoxicological studies due to its multiple advantages, to undertake a bio-safety assessment of N-GQDs in the nervous system with the assistance of a deep learning model. The findings suggested that accumulated N-GQDs in the nematodes’ bodies damaged their normal behavior in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and the impairments of the nervous system were obviously severe when the exposure dosages were above 100 μg/mL. When assessing the morphological changes of neurons caused by N-GQDs, a quantitative image-based analysis based on a deep neural network algorithm (YOLACT) was used because traditional image-based analysis is labor-intensive and limited to qualitative evaluation. The quantitative results indicated that N-GQDs damaged dopaminergic and glutamatergic neurons, which are involved in the neurotoxic effects of N-GQDs in the nematode <i>C. elegans</i>. This study not only suggests a fast and economic <i>C. elegans</i> model to undertake the risk assessment of nanomaterials in the nervous system, but also provides a valuable deep learning approach to quantitatively track subtle morphological changes of neurons at an unbiased level in a nanotoxicological study using <i>C. elegans</i>. |
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e25f0e96c2fc43418fe195c78f789640 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-4991 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:26:49Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
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| series | Nanomaterials |
| spelling | doaj.art-e25f0e96c2fc43418fe195c78f7896402023-11-23T09:50:53ZengMDPI AGNanomaterials2079-49912021-12-011112331410.3390/nano11123314A Deep Learning Analysis Reveals Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots Damage Neurons of Nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>Hongsheng Xu0Xinyu Wang1Xiaomeng Zhang2Jin Cheng3Jixiang Zhang4Min Chen5Tianshu Wu6College of Energy and Electrical Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, ChinaKey Laboratory of Environmental Medicine and Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, ChinaKey Laboratory of Environmental Medicine and Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, ChinaKey Laboratory of Environmental Medicine and Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, ChinaKey Laboratory of Environmental Medicine and Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, ChinaKey Laboratory of Environmental Medicine and Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, ChinaKey Laboratory of Environmental Medicine and Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, ChinaAlong with the rapidly increasing applications of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) in the field of biomedicine, the exposure of N-GQDs undoubtedly pose a risk to the health of human beings, especially in the nervous system. In view of the lack of data from in vivo studies, this study used the nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> (<i>C. elegans</i>), which has become a valuable animal model in nanotoxicological studies due to its multiple advantages, to undertake a bio-safety assessment of N-GQDs in the nervous system with the assistance of a deep learning model. The findings suggested that accumulated N-GQDs in the nematodes’ bodies damaged their normal behavior in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and the impairments of the nervous system were obviously severe when the exposure dosages were above 100 μg/mL. When assessing the morphological changes of neurons caused by N-GQDs, a quantitative image-based analysis based on a deep neural network algorithm (YOLACT) was used because traditional image-based analysis is labor-intensive and limited to qualitative evaluation. The quantitative results indicated that N-GQDs damaged dopaminergic and glutamatergic neurons, which are involved in the neurotoxic effects of N-GQDs in the nematode <i>C. elegans</i>. This study not only suggests a fast and economic <i>C. elegans</i> model to undertake the risk assessment of nanomaterials in the nervous system, but also provides a valuable deep learning approach to quantitatively track subtle morphological changes of neurons at an unbiased level in a nanotoxicological study using <i>C. elegans</i>.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/11/12/3314nanotoxicityneurotoxicityneurobehaviormachine learningphenotyping |
| spellingShingle | Hongsheng Xu Xinyu Wang Xiaomeng Zhang Jin Cheng Jixiang Zhang Min Chen Tianshu Wu A Deep Learning Analysis Reveals Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots Damage Neurons of Nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> Nanomaterials nanotoxicity neurotoxicity neurobehavior machine learning phenotyping |
| title | A Deep Learning Analysis Reveals Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots Damage Neurons of Nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> |
| title_full | A Deep Learning Analysis Reveals Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots Damage Neurons of Nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> |
| title_fullStr | A Deep Learning Analysis Reveals Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots Damage Neurons of Nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Deep Learning Analysis Reveals Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots Damage Neurons of Nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> |
| title_short | A Deep Learning Analysis Reveals Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots Damage Neurons of Nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> |
| title_sort | deep learning analysis reveals nitrogen doped graphene quantum dots damage neurons of nematode i caenorhabditis elegans i |
| topic | nanotoxicity neurotoxicity neurobehavior machine learning phenotyping |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/11/12/3314 |
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