Lithium Research Paper

Words: 2370
Pages: 10

Selenium, germanium, and lithium are three distinct non-related elements. Lithium and its salts lithium carbonate and lithium citrate are used as antidepressants and bipolar disorder treatment. Selenium is a non-metal in its natural form, but it is available as a semi-metal when complexed with other elements. Long used as a health supplement, the required amount of selenium necessary for health and nutrition is very small, and ranges in the micrograms per day intake. Higher intake of selenium and its compounds results in adverse effects like asphyxiation, respiratory distress, and lung lesions. Selenium toxicity relates to its ability to disrupt zinc finger proteins that are mostly transcriptional regulators, resulting in damage to DNA signalling, repair and transcription; it can also kill some fungi. Several types of selenium-enriched probiotics reduce the number of pathogenic E. coli in vitro and in vivo (Yang et al., 2009). In addition, selenium also enhances some of the biological activities of the compounds against microorganisms (Pietka-Ottlik et al., 2008). Organoselenium coating on cellulose dressings for wounds and other open sites of infection inhibited the establishment of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus biofilms (Tran …show more content…
It can also react with acetonitrile (also from batteries) to produce toxic hydrocyanide gas (US Environmental Protection Agency 1984). As a pure metal form, lithium is dangerous to animals that ingest it, and to plants which accumulate it. Furthermore, if relatively large amounts of pure lithium enter the food chain, it affects the gastrointestinal tract, the kidneys and the central nervous system, and the kidneys of animals and humans. Adverse effects include: diarrhoea, pain, vomiting, and nausea. Lithium toxicity can also affect the nervous system to produce tremors, muscle rigidity, mental confusion, and coma (Salocks and Kaley