Abstract

Due to the high affinity of metallothioneins (MTs) toward various transition metal ions, MTs play an important role in regulation of essential metals, detoxification of heavy metals, and scavenging of free radicals. In this review, we focus on the recent development on the metal release from and sequestration by MTs characterized by electrochemistry and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The investigation of metal release and coordination processes is of great significance in illustrating the intriguing role of MTs in environmental toxicology.

Keywords: Metallothionein, metal release, sequestration, electrochemistry, surface plasmon resonance