Abstract The potential adverse effects or health risks of nanostructures produced in smoking tobacco have drawn considerable attention. Herein, the presence of fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) in cigarette smoke was confirmed, and their physicochemical property and potential toxicity were evaluated as well. The cigarette CDs were spherical and the size was mainly falling within 2–4 nm. Under ultraviolet excitation, the cigarette CDs emitted brilliant blue fluorescence with a quantum yield of 2.64%. Importantly, the cigarette CDs disturbed cell cycle and caused cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. The metabolomics evaluation showed that the CDs resulted in the up-regulation of glycolysis, down-regulation of amino acids and metabolic disorder of lipids, demonstrating a significant metabolism shift in HepG2 cells upon exposure to the cigarette CDs. Our findings provided valuable information on the existence of CDs in cigarette smoke and their adverse effect on live cells.

中文翻译：

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香烟烟雾中荧光碳点的不良反应评估

摘要 吸烟烟草中产生的纳米结构的潜在不利影响或健康风险引起了广泛关注。在此，证实了香烟烟雾中荧光碳点 (CD) 的存在，并评估了它们的理化性质和潜在毒性。卷烟CD为球形，尺寸主要在2-4nm范围内。在紫外线激发下，香烟CDs发出亮蓝色荧光，量子产率为2.64%。重要的是，香烟CDs以剂量依赖性方式扰乱细胞周期并引起细胞凋亡。代谢组学评估表明，CDs 导致糖酵解上调、氨基酸下调和脂质代谢紊乱，表明暴露于香烟 CDs 后 HepG2 细胞的代谢发生显着变化。