Qvarforth Anna, Augustsson Anna, von Ehr Michelle, Mandava Geeta, Rodushkin Ilia, Engström Emma, Eisele Steffen, Lundqvist Johan
Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7028, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
Department of Biology and Environmental Science, Linnaeus University, Stuvaregatan 4, 392 31 Kalmar, Sweden.
Environ Sci Technol. 2025 Jan 21;59(2):1145-1155. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.4c09710. Epub 2025 Jan 6.
Technology-critical elements (TCEs), essential in emerging technologies, are increasingly finding their way into our environment, raising concerns about their sparsely studied behavior and toxicity. To contribute insights into the toxicological aspects, we employed bioassays to investigate the possible cytotoxic effects in four representative cell lines (AR-EcoScreen GR-KO-M1, DR-EcoScreen, MCF7AREc32, VM7Luc4E2) and the potential to induce oxidative stress via the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway for a number of these elements. Nine TCEs, three rare-earth elements (REEs: Gd, Nd, Yb) and six less-studied TCEs (LSTCEs: Ga, Ge, In, Ta, Te, Tl), were selected for this study, along with three well-studied traditional metal contaminants (TMCs: As, Cd, Pb) for comparison. Among the 12 studied elements, nine showed signs of inducing cytotoxicity: As, Cd, Ga, Nd, and Te in three out of the four studied cell lines and Gd, Ta, Tl, and Yb in one to two cell lines. Tellurium repeatedly exhibited the highest potency. The TCEs Ga and In, similar to As and Cd, also demonstrated the potential to induce oxidative stress. The results of this study suggest that some TCEs may potentially cause adverse health effects similar to As and Cd, thus prompting further investigations.
技术关键元素（TCEs）在新兴技术中至关重要，它们越来越多地进入我们的环境，引发了人们对其研究较少的行为和毒性的担忧。为了深入了解毒理学方面的情况，我们采用生物测定法来研究四种代表性细胞系（AR-EcoScreen GR-KO-M1、DR-EcoScreen、MCF7AREc32、VM7Luc4E2）中可能的细胞毒性作用，以及这些元素中一些通过核因子红细胞2相关因子2（Nrf2）途径诱导氧化应激的潜力。本研究选择了9种TCEs，3种稀土元素（REEs：钆、钕、镱）和6种研究较少的TCEs（LSTCEs：镓、锗、铟、钽、碲、铊），并选取了3种研究充分的传统金属污染物（TMCs：砷、镉、铅）进行比较。在研究的12种元素中，有9种显示出诱导细胞毒性的迹象：砷、镉、镓、钕和碲在4种研究细胞系中的3种中表现出这种迹象，钆、钽、铊和镱在1至2种细胞系中表现出这种迹象。碲反复表现出最高的效力。与砷和镉类似，TCEs镓和铟也显示出诱导氧化应激的潜力。本研究结果表明，一些TCEs可能会对健康造成与砷和镉类似的不良影响，因此需要进一步研究。
