Toxicology

To our knowledge, no recent, updated review on tellurium's human toxicology exists.

Some references follow:

Ambrosone A, Mattera L, Marchesano V, Quarta A, Susha A S, Tino A, Andrey L. Rogach, and Tortiglione C 2012. Mechanisms underlying toxicity induced by CdTe quantum dots determined in an invertebrate model organism. Biomaterials 33(7), 1991–2000.

Anaganti N, Basu B, Gupta A, Joseph D, Apte SK 2015. Depletion of reduction potential and key energy generation metabolic enzymes underlies tellurite toxicity in Deinococcus Radiodurans. Proteomics 15(1), 89–97.

Avila DS, Colle D, Gubert P, Palma AS, Puntel G, Manarin F, Noremberg S et al. 2010. A possible neuroprotective action of a vinylic telluride against Mn-induced neurotoxicity. Toxicological Sciences: An Official Journal of the Society of Toxicology 115(1), 194–201.

Babula P, Adam V, Opatrilova R, Zehnalek J, Havel L, Kizek R 2008. Uncommon heavy metals, metalloids and their plant toxicity: A review. Environmental Chemistry Letters 6(4), 189–213.

Berriault CJ, Lightfoot NE 2011. Occupational tellurium exposure and garlic odour. Occupational Medicine (Oxford, England) 61(2), 132–135.

Carvalho CAS, Gemelli T, Guerra RB, Oliboni L, Salvador M, Dani C, Araújo AS, Mascarenhas M, Funchal C 2009. Effect of in vitro exposure of human serum to 3-butyl-1-phenyl-2-(phenyltelluro)oct-en-1-one on oxidative stress. Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry 332(1–2), 127–134.

Contreras N del P, Vásquez CC 2010. Tellurite-induced carbonylation of the Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex. Arch. Microbiol. 192(11), 969–973.

Ding WJ, Hasegawa T, Peng D, Hosaka H, Seko Y 2002. Preliminary investigation on the cytotoxicity of tellurite to cultured HeLa cells. Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology 16(2), 99–102.

Doering M, Diesel B, Gruhlke MCH, Viswanathan UM, Mániková D, Chovanec M, et al. 2012. Selenium- and tellurium-containing redox modulators with distinct activity against macrophages: possible implications for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Tetrahedron 68(51), 10577–10585.

Domingos RF, Simon DF, Hauser C, Wilkinson KJ. 2011. Bioaccumulation and effects of CdTe/CdS quantum dots on Chlamydomonas reinhardtii - nanoparticles or the free ions? Environ. Sci. Technol. 45(18), 7664–7669.

Gagné F, Fortier M, Yu L, Osachoff HL, Skirrow RC, van Aggelen G, et al. 2010. Immunocompetence and alterations in hepatic gene expression in rainbow trout exposed to CdS/CdTe quantum dots. J. Environ. Monit. 12(8), 1556–1565.

Gajkowska B, Smiałek M, Porada D, Piotrowski P 1995. Neurotoxic effect of sodium tellurite in the rat temporal lobe. Acta Neurobiol. Exp. 55(3), 221.

Gimou M-M, Pouillot R, Charrondiere UR, Noël L, Guérin T, Leblanc J-C 2014. Dietary exposure and health risk assessment for 14 toxic and essential trace elements in Yaoundé: the Cameroonian total diet study. Food Addit. Contam. Part A Chem. Anal. Control Expo. Risk Assess. 31(6), 1064–1080.

Jorge PM, de Oliveira IM, Filippi Chiela EC, Viau CM, Saffi J, Horn F, et al. 2015. Diphenyl ditelluride-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis: A relation with topoisomerase I inhibition. Basic Clin. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 116(3), 273–280.

Khangarot BS, Das S. 2009. Acute toxicity of metals and reference toxicants to a freshwater ostracod, Cypris subglobosa Sowerby, 1840 and correlation to EC50 values of other test models. Journal of Hazardous Materials 172(2–3), 641–649.

Lin C-H, Chang LW, Chang H, Yang M-H, Yang C-S, Lai W-H, et al. 2009. The chemical fate of the Cd/Se/Te-based quantum dot 705 in the biological system: toxicity implications. Nanotechnology 20(21), 215101.

Liu T, Xing R, Zhou Y-F, Zhang J, Su Y-Y, Zhang K-Q, et al. 2014. Hematopoiesis toxicity induced by CdTe quantum dots determined in an invertebrate model organism. Biomaterials 35(9), 2942–2951.

Liu X, Tang M, Zhang T, Hu Y, Zhang S, Kong L, et al. 2013. Determination of a threshold dose to reduce or eliminate CdTe-induced toxicity in L929 cells by controlling the exposure dose. PLoS ONE 8(4):e59359.

Nguyen KC, Willmore WG, Tayabali AF 2013. Cadmium telluride quantum dots cause oxidative stress leading to extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. Toxicology 306, 114–123.

Ogra Y, Kobayashi R, Ishiwata K, Suzuki KT 2008. Comparison of distribution and metabolism between tellurium and selenium in rats. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 102(7), 1507–1513.

Ottosson L-G, Logg K, Ibstedt S, Sunnerhagen P, Käll M, Blomberg A, et al. 2010. Sulfate Assimilation Mediates Tellurite Reduction and Toxicity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Eukaryot. Cell 9(10), 1635–1647.

Park S, Chibli H, Nadeau J 2012. Solubilization and bio-conjugation of quantum dots and bacterial toxicity assays by growth curve and plate count. J. Vis. Exp. (65):e3969

Peyrot C, Gagnon C, Gagné F, Willkinson KJ, Turcotte P, Sauvé S 2009. Effects of cadmium telluride quantum dots on cadmium bioaccumulation and metallothionein production to the freshwater mussel, Elliptio complanata. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. C Toxicol. Pharmacol. 150(2), 246–251.

Prasad BR, Mullins G, Nikolskaya N, Connolly D, Smith TJ, Gérard VA, et al. 2012. Effects of long-term exposure of gelatinated and non-gelatinated cadmium telluride quantum dots on differentiated PC12 cells. J. Nanobiotechnology 10:4.

Reinoso CA, Auger C, Appanna VD, Vásquez CC. 2012. Tellurite-exposed Escherichia coli exhibits increased intracellular α-ketoglutarate. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 421(4), 721–726.

Rocha TL, Gomes T, Cardoso C, Letendre J, Pinheiro JP, Sousa VS, et al. 2014. Immunocytotoxicity, cytogenotoxicity and genotoxicity of cadmium-based quantum dots in the marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. Mar. Environ. Res. 101, 29–37.

Santos DB, Schiar VPP, Paixão MW, Meinerz DF, Nogueira CW, Aschner M, et al. 2009. Hemolytic and genotoxic evaluation of organochalcogens in human blood cells in vitro. Toxicol. In Vitro 23(6), 1195–1204.

Scansetti G 1992. Exposure to metals that have recently come into use. Sci. Total Environ. 20(1–2), 85–91.

Scansetti G. 1992. From macro to microdoses 3- Reference values for toxic metals exposure to metals that have recently come into use. Science of The Total Environment 120(1), 85–91.

Sinha P, Balas R, Krueger L, Wade A. 2012. Fate and transport evaluation of potential leaching risks from cadmium telluride photovoltaics. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 31(7), 1670–1675.

Stürzenbaum SR, Höckner M, Panneerselvam A, Levitt J, Bouillard J-S, Taniguchi S, et al. 2013. Biosynthesis of luminescent quantum dots in an earthworm. Nat. Nanotechnol. 8(1), 57–60.

Tanaka A 2004. Toxicity of indium arsenide, gallium arsenide, and aluminium gallium arsenide. Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 198(3), 405–411.

Taylor DE 1999. Bacterial tellurite resistance. Trends in Microbiology 7(3), 111–115.

Valdivia-González M, Pérez-Donoso JM, Vásquez CC 2012. Effect of tellurite-mediated oxidative stress on the Escherichia coli glycolytic pathway. Biometals 25(2), 451–458.

Vij P, Hardej D 2012. Evaluation of tellurium toxicity in transformed and non-transformed human colon cells. Environ. Toxicol. Pharmacol. 34(3), 768–782.

Wallschläger D, Feldmann J. 2010. Formation, occurrence, significance, and analysis of organoselenium and organotellurium compounds in the environment. Met. Ions Life Sci. 7, 319–364.

Widy-Tyszkiewicz E, Piechal A, Gajkowska B, Śmiałek M 2002. Tellurium-induced cognitive deficits in rats are related to neuropathological changes in the central nervous system. Toxicology Letters 131(3), 203–214.

Xu M, Deng G, Liu S, Chen S, Cui D, Yang L, et al. 2010. Free cadmium ions released from CdTe-based nanoparticles and their cytotoxicity on Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Metallomics 2(7), 469–473.

Yan M, Zhang Y, Xu K, Fu T, Qin H, Zheng X 2011. An in vitro study of vascular endothelial toxicity of CdTe quantum dots. Toxicology 282(3), 94–103.

Zayed J, Philippe S 2009. Acute oral and inhalation toxicities in rats with cadmium telluride. Int. J. Toxicol. 28(4), 259–265.

Zhang W, Lin K, Miao Y, Dong Q, Huang C, Wang H, et al. 2012. Toxicity assessment of zebrafish following exposure to CdTe QDs. J. Hazard. Mater. 213–214, 413–420.

Zhang W, Miao Y, Lin K, Chen L, Dong Q, Huang C 2013. Toxic effects of copper ion in zebrafish in the joint presence of CdTe QDs. Environ Pollut. 176, 158–164.

Zonaro E, Lampis S, Turner RJ, Qazi SJS, Vallini G 2015. Biogenic selenium and tellurium nanoparticles synthesized by environmental microbial isolates efficaciously inhibit bacterial planktonic cultures and biofilms. Front. Microbiol. 6, 584.