Further studies are required to correlate in vitro observations with the long term vascular effects of arsenic ingestion in vivo at levels found in contaminated drinking water, and to clarify conflicting reports that in vivo conversion to more toxic metabolites such as monomethylarsonous acid that may result in direct inhibition

of eNOS ( Vahter, 2002 and Lee et al., 2003). Possible iatrogenic effects of trivalent arsenic on vascular function also remain to be investigated given that arsenic trioxide is now widely used in the treatment of haematological conditions such as acute promyelocytic leukaemia ( Jing et al., 1999). The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest. The work was supported by the British Heart Foundation (Grant No. PG/08/072/25474) and the School of Medicine, Cardiff University “
“Quantum dots (QDs) are engineered semiconductor nanocrystals that range from 2 to 100 nm in diameter (Bruchez et al., 1998). They are composed selleck screening library of a metal core encapsulated by an inorganic shell which enhances the core’s optical and electronic properties while reducing metal leaching. QDs are often surface functionalized with organic molecules specific to their application, which also increase QD solubility in water (Michalet et al., 2005). Due to their unique optical and electronic properties including broad absorption and narrow emission (De Wild et al., 2003), QDs

have been used in different technologies including solar cells, light emitting devices (LEDs), LBH589 quantum computing and applications, and biological imaging and probes. These nanoparticles (NPs) also hold great promise as an important tool in medical imaging, cancer detection, and targeted drug delivery (Chan et al., 2002 and Gao et al., 2004). The usefulness and various applications of QDs have led to elevated levels of production of these NPs, resulting in potentially significant increases in human exposure from occupational, medical and environmental sources. Although, there is a paucity of information on actual environmental and occupational levels of exposure to CdTe-QDs, there are increasing concerns about their toxicity and

risk to human health. Cadmium-based QDs such as CdSe and CdTe have been shown to cause toxicity in vitro and in vivo ( Hardman, 2006). However, the underlying mechanisms of QD-mediated toxicity are not well understood. Several studies have suggested that the toxicity of QDs Cyclooxygenase (COX) depends on several intrinsic properties such as size, chemical composition, and surface coating components ( Hardman, 2006). Many studies have also suggested that the presence of cadmium in the QD metal core is a primary source of QD toxicity ( Derfus et al., 2004 and Chang et al., 2006). The release of Cd2+ ions from QDs is hypothesized to result from the degradation or oxidation of the metal core, and the amount of free Cd2+ ions in solutions of QDs correlates with QD-induced cytotoxicity ( Derfus et al., 2004, Kirchner et al., 2005 and Xu et al., 2010).