All animal experiments were performed in compliance with the local ethics committee. Animals were obtained from the animal laboratories of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in compliance with the institutional Animal Care and Use Program Guidelines. The animals were given food and water, and housed under 12 h/12 h light/dark cycle. After acclimation, the animals were randomly divided into different groups for in vivo toxicity evaluations. Acute toxicity evaluations Sixty BALB/c mice (17 to 21 g) were divided into three groups of 20 each for tail injections to test for acute toxicity. Each group had 10 female and 10 male mice

that were intravenously exposed to C-dots through a single tail injection of either 5.1 or 51 mg/kg body weight (BW). Other mice were injected with 0.9% NaCl aqueous selleck screening library solution to serve as the control group. Within 14 days of monitoring, Natural Product Library the body weights of the mice were measured. At various time points (3 and 14 days after exposure), 10 mice (5 males and 5 females) per time point were sacrificed.

Blood samples were collected from each mouse for blood chemistry tests and complete blood panel analysis. Statistical calculations were based on the standard deviations of 10 mice per group. Subacute toxicity evaluations Sixty-four Wistar rats (177 to 224 g) were randomly divided into three test groups (low, medium, or high dose) and one control

group with 16 rats in each group (8 males and 8 females). The low, medium, and high doses (0.2, 2, and 20 mg/kg BW) of C-dots were administered as a single tail vein injection. The rats in the control group were exposed to 0.9% NaCl aqueous solution. At 1, 3, 7, and 28 days after exposure, blood from each rat was collected for blood chemistry tests and complete blood panel analyses before the rats were euthanatized 30 days post-exposure. The major organs (heart, liver, spleen, stomach, kidneys, lungs, brain, testicles, ovaries, adrenal second glands, and intestines) were collected. For conventional histological analyses, tissues were immediately collected after the rats were sacrificed, fixed in 10% formaldehyde, embedded in paraffin, cut into 8-μm sections, stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and then examined by light microscopy. The results are presented as the mean ± SD. Statistical differences were evaluated using the variance test and considered significant at P < 0.05. Medullary micronucleus test Fifty healthy Kunming mice (25 to 30 g; equal numbers of males and females) were randomly divided into two control groups (positive and negative) and three test groups. The test groups were injected with low, middle, and high doses (2.04, 10.2, and 51 mg/kg BW, respectively) of C-dots for the bone marrow micronucleus test.