One-dimensional proteomic profiling of Danio rerio embryo vitellogenin to estimate quantum dot toxicity

BACKGROUND: Vitellogenin (Vtg) is the major egg yolk protein (YP) in most oviparous species and may be useful as an indicator in ecotoxicological testing at the biochemical level. In this study, we obtained detailed information about the Vtgs of Danio rerio embryos by cutting SDS-PAGE gel lanes into thin slices, and analyzing them slice-by-slice with (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. RESULTS: We conducted three proteomic analyses, comparing embryonic Danio rerio Vtg cleavage products after exposure for 48 h to CdSecore/ZnSshell quantum dots (QDs), after exposure to a mixture of the components used for quantum dot synthesis (MCS-QDs), and in untreated embryos. The Vtg mass spectrometric profiles of the QDs-treated embryos differed from those of the unexposed or MCS-QDs-treated embryos. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the possible utility of Vtg profiling in D. rerio embryos as a sensitive diagnostic tool to estimate nanoparticle toxicity. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12953-015-0072-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.