Mechanochemical Synthesis, Characterization and Cytotoxicity Assay of Cadmium Chloride with L-Cysteine

Abstract

The objective was first to study the complexation of toxic cadmium with cysteine to check the
chemical and physicochemical alterations resulting due to the applied mechanical force and secondly to
study its cytotoxicity level. Among all non-essential heavy metals, Cadmium (Cd) is significantly gaining
most of the attention because of its probable toxicity in various body organs. Apart from the toxic effects of
Cd, it also imparts carcinogenic effects and is categorized as a human carcinogen. Cysteine acts as a chelator
for the removal of cadmium by forming a complex through the thiol group of cysteine. Metallothioneins
(MTs) are small intracellular (6-10 kDa), cysteine-rich proteins widely distributed in plants, bacteria, vertebrates, and nonvertebrates. One molecule of MT can bind to 7 atoms of Cd with high affinity. The complexation was done through Mechanochemical synthesis by grinding cadmium chloride with cysteine together
in a mole ratio of 1:2. The characterization included FTIR, powder XRD and MTT assay for cytotoxicity.
It was concluded that the complex was formed and resulted in the complexation between metal salt and ligand. Moreover, the complex also showed a decrease in cytotoxicity of cadmium after complexation and an
increase in cell viability