Chromium and chromium compounds.
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The effects on the environment and health of the operation of a chromate compounds factory and tanneries in the León valley in central México are discussed. Sampling and analysis of chromium were performed in water, soil, and human urine. Groundwater has been polluted in an area of about 5 km2 by the leaching of a solid factory waste, which results in concentrations up to 50 mg/l of hexavalent chromium. The plume shape and extension appear to be controlled by the prevailing well extraction regime. Total chromium was detected in the soil around the factory as a result of both aerial transport and deposition of dust produced in the chromate process and irrigation with tannery-contaminated water. Analysis of the impact of chromium in air and water on populations with various degrees of exposure revealed that highly harmful health effects were not observed.
The recent article by Costa and Klein (2006) contains several inaccuracies about the federal drinking water standard for chromium. The federal drinking water standard for chromium is 100 ppb, not 50 ppb as stated by Costa and Klein, and it is based on non-carcinogenic effects, not a one in one million cancer risk level. The question of whether or not hexavalent chromium is carcinogenic via the oral route is the focus of much current interest and has major implications for regulation of chromium in drinking water and soil. The chronic drinking water study of hexavalent chromium currently being conducted by the National Toxicology Program will provide further information that will be useful in addressing this question.
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from nickel and/or cobalt or chromium sensitive patients were stimulated with the appropriate metal compound for 7 days in culture. The transformed blasts were separated from non-transformed small cells on Percoll density gradients. The blasts, maintained in interleukin-2 containing medium and enriched for T cells, were both antigen specific and devoid of alloreactivity. The metal compound primed T cell blasts from all patients showed a good proliferative response on restimulation with the priming compound in the presence of autologous adherent cells (AC). Analysis of HLA class II phenotypes of allogeneic AC that could serve as antigen presenting cells indicated that responsiveness of T cell blasts from most but not all patients could be explained on the basis of HLA-DR as a restricting element. We conclude that products of other class II loci (HLA-DQ and/or HLA-DP) might also serve as restricting elements for a secondary in vitro proliferative response to these metal compounds.
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Particulate hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] compounds are well-established human lung carcinogens. However, their carcinogenic mechanisms are poorly understood as most investigators have used soluble Cr(VI) compounds. Recent work from our laboratory has found that barium chromate (BC) is also cytotoxic and clastogenic. To understand how BC relates to existing data on other particulate Cr(VI) compounds, we compared its cytotoxicity and clastogenicity with lead chromate (LC), which has been used as a prototypical particulate Cr(VI) compound, in WTHBF-6 cells, a near-normal human lung cell line. We found that BC is a more potent cytotoxicant, inducing 67%, 12%, 3%, and 0% relative survival at concentrations of 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 5 microg/cm2, respectively, while LC induced 90%, 71%, 43%, and 15% survival at these same concentrations. We found that BC was also more clastogenic, damaging 22% and 49% of metaphase cells at 0.1 and 0.5 microg/cm2, and causing complete cell cycle arrest at 1 and 5 microg/cm2. By contrast, 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 microg/cm2 LC damaged 10%, 27%, and 37% of metaphase cells, respectively, and complete cell cycle arrest was not observed until a concentration of 5 microg/cm2 was reached. We found that BC and LC both partially dissolved in complete medium in the presence of cells, producing similar extracellular concentrations. Both compounds were also comparable with respect to particle uptake and the amount of intracellular Cr ions. Considering previous reports showing that lead ions were inactive and that sodium chromate and LC have similar clastogenic potencies, these data suggest that BC genotoxicity may not be solely mediated by Cr ions, but also involve some clastogenic activity of barium ions.
Chromium(III) is thought to be an essential element in mammals, its toxicity being very low. On the contrary, chromium (VI) is highly toxic to man, even if its effects are generally local, involving the respiratory tract and the skin. Once absorbed, chromium(VI) is quickly reduced to the trivalent form which accounts for all of this element present in the blood stream or taken up by tissues. As a result, any differences in systemic toxicity can only be attributed to differential solubilities and absorption rates. The kidney should be regarded as the critical organ, although tubular damage following occupational exposure is mostly due to acute absorption and transient in nature. Sensitive immunochemical techniques for the measurement of specific proteins in the urine have been used for the early detection of kidney damage, a possible threshold having been indicated at exposure levels yielding 15 micrograms/g creatinine in urine. Such a threshold has been confirmed by using monoclonal antibodies to reveal antigens from the brush-border of proximal tubules. Two main features of kidney damage were, however, apparent. The first one is the lack of dose-effect/response relationships, i.e. the lack of any progression toward more severe impairments when the exposure intensity increases. The second one is that the recent absorption rate more than the cumulated dose is responsible for the observed nephrotoxic effects.
Over the last 40 years, experiments with animals and epidemiology of exposed human populations have established that certain hexavalent chromium-containing compounds are capable of causing cancer whilst trivalent materials are not. More recently, a variety of short-term genotoxicity tests (predictive of carcinogenicity) have clearly demonstrated that Cr[VI] is genotoxic per se, and that all Cr[VI]-containing materials which have been tested are genotoxic. What experiments have failed to demonstrate clearly, however, is which of the myriad of industrially available hexavalent materials are carcinogenic and which are not. In this long-term study we have looked at the incidence of squamous metaplasia in the bronchial epithelium of rats exposed to a range of chromium-containing materials by intrabronchial implantation. Squamous metaplasia is generally considered to be a transformed state from which squamous carcinoma may arise. We have shown that its incidence is increased in all groups exposed to Cr[VI]-materials, and in rats exposed to the reference carcinogen 20-methylcholanthrene. Squamous metaplasia was not increased in rats exposed to Cr[III] materials. Of rats exposed to Cr[VI], only those receiving materials of sparing aqueous solubility developed bronchial squamous carcinoma at statistically significant levels. These results strongly support the hypothesis that although Cr[VI] per se is biologically active, producing genotoxic effects and pathological changes which may predispose to the development of cancer, only Cr[VI] materials of sparing aqueous solubility seem to be capable of evoking a carcinogenic response.
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The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of trivalent (chromic chloride) and hexavalent (potassium dichromate) forms of chromium in the African mouth breeder Oreochromis mossambicus (Peters), with reference to the humoral immune response and lymphoid cells/organs. The 96 h LD50 for hexavalent and trivalent chromium was found to be 75 and 1,000microg fish(-1), respectively. Groups of fishes were injected intraperitoneally with 10, 1, 0.1 and 0.01% LD50 hexavalent and trivalent forms of chromium and subsequently immunised with bovine serum albumin (5 mg in 0.2 ml physiological saline). Both forms of chromium suppressed the antibody response, with hexavalent chromium being more suppressive than trivalent chromium. Reduction in spleen weight, splenocyte number and the percentage of blood lymphocytes was observed following administration of both forms of chromium. The possible immunological mechanisms behind the differential suppression of the antibody response and the reduction in spleen weight, splenocyte and lymphocyte counts are discussed.
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The frequency of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), high SCE frequency cells (HFCs), and genetic polymorphism of genotypes glutathione S-transferase (GST) M1 and T1 were analyzed in peripheral lymphocytes of 35 workers occupationally exposed to chromium (Cr) and 35 matched control group. Results showed that workers exposed to Cr showed 6.07 SCE/cell, as compared to 4.76 SCE/cell for the control group (p<0.01). Smokers showed a statistically significant higher frequency of SCE than non-smokers in both groups. The work duration of Cr workers was an important factor. Workers exposed for more than 5 years showed a significantly higher level of SCEs (p<0.05). Workers exposed to Cr for 5 or more years had higher HFC rates (51.4%) than those exposed for less than 5 years (22.9%), with an odds ratio of 4.5 times than those exposed for less than 5 years. In HFC analysis, Cr workers who smoked showed a higher level of HFC (60%) than the control group (5.7%) and also had a higher odds ratio (60.4) compared with the control group. Among non-smokers, the odds ratio was 9.0. Another objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between SCE and genetic polymorphisms of GST M1 and T1 in Cr workers. The results showed that the incidence of GSTM1 null genotype was 60% in the control group and 77.1% in Cr workers, and percentages of GSTT1 deletion were 42.9% and 62.9% in control and exposed individuals, respectively. There was a slightly increased frequency of SCE among Cr workers with GSTM1 null genotype as opposed to non-null genotype individuals. A similar result was seen among the control group; however, there were no statistically significant differences. In conclusion, the current study found the positive induction of SCE in workers who smoked or/and were exposed to Cr. However, different GST genotypes did not influence the level of cytogenetic damage between groups. Despite slight variation in numbers, they all appear to be not different.