Black Phosphorus Quantum Dots Induce Lipid Accumulation Through PPARγ Activation and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Adipocytes

Black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs) are believed to have broad prospects for application. Obesity has garnered significant attention, but the association between BPQDs and lipid metabolism has not been thoroughly investigated. Mice were orally exposed to BPQDs at doses of 0.1 and 1 mg/kg for 28 d. The exposed mice exhibited reduced insulin sensitivity, hypertrophy of white adipose tissues, and reduced thermogenic function of brown adipose tissues. In white adipocyte line (3T3-L1), exposure to 5-20 μg/mL BPQDs induced lipid accumulation, oxidative stress, and upregulated the expression of PPARγ and genes involved in de novo lipogenesis. Moreover, both a reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger and a PPARγ inhibitor were able to attenuate lipid accumulation and downregulate the expression of lipid-associated genes in white adipocytes. In mouse brown adipocytes, BPQDs exposure caused oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and downregulation of thermogenic genes such as UCP1. The ROS scavenger attenuated the oxidative stress and improved the mitochondrial thermogenic function in brown adipocytes. In summary, this work demonstrates that oxidative stress induced by BPQDs mediates the lipid accumulation possibly through PPARγ activation and mitochondrial dysfunction of adipose tissues, highlighting the potential obesogenic effect of BPQDs. Our findings provide novel insights into the biosafety of BPQDs and their potential health risks to humans, offering important considerations for the sustainable application of BP materials. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATION: BPQDs are a novel type of nanomaterials with unique physicochemical properties, and have broad applications in various fields, particularly in biomedicine. However, during the production and use of BPQDs as medical materials, they inevitably contact with the human body for long periods of time. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the effects of BPQDs on organisms under long-term exposure, especially lipid metabolism. This study would be helpful decreasing the environmental health risk of BP materials and promoting their sustainable development of nanotechnology in biomedicine.