TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILE FOR CHROMIUM - Davidborowski.com

CHROMIUM 942. HEALTH EFFECTSHematological Effects. Cases of hematological effects have been reported in humans after theingestion of lethal or sublethal doses of chromium(VI) compounds. In a case of an 18-year-old womanwho ingested a few grams of potassium dichromate, decreased hemoglobin content and hematocrit, andincreased total white blood cell counts, reticulocyte counts, and plasma hemoglobin were found 4 daysafter ingestion. These effects were indicative of intravascular hemolysis (Sharma et al. 1978). A 25-yearoldwoman who drank a solution containing potassium dichromate had a clinically significant increase inleukocytes due to a rise in polymorphonuclear cells (Goldman and Karotkin 1935). In another study, a44-year-old man had decreased hemoglobin levels 9 days after ingestion of 4.1 mg chromium(VI)/kg aschromic acid solution that probably resulted from gastrointestinal hemorrhage (Saryan and Reedy 1988).Inhibition of blood coagulation was described in a case of a 17-year-old male who died after ingesting.29 mg chromium(VI)/kg as potassium dichromate (Clochesy 1984; Iserson et al. 1983). Anemiafollowing severe hemorrhaging developed in a chrome plating worker who had accidentally swallowed anunreported volume of a plating fluid containing 300 g chromium trioxide/L. He was treated byhemodialysis, which saved his life (Fristedt et al. 1965).In a cross sectional study conducted in 1965 of 155 villagers whose well water contained 20 mgchromium(VI)/L as a result of pollution from an alloy plant in the People's Republic of China,associations were found between drinking the contaminated water and leukocytosis and immatureneutrophils. The alloy plant began chromium smelting in 1961 and began regular production in 1965.Similar results were found in two similar studies in other villages, but further details were not provided(Zhang and Li 1987). The 20 mg chromium(VI)/L concentration is equivalent to a dose of 0.57 mgchromium(VI)/kg/day.Minor hematological effects were observed in animals after oral exposure to chromium(VI), but nohematological effects were observed in animals after oral exposure to chromium(III) compounds.Routine hematological examination revealed no changes in rats exposed to 3.6 mg chromium(VI)/kg/dayas potassium chromate in the drinking water for 1 year (MacKenzie et al. 1958). In feeding studies ofpotassium dichromate in rats and mice, the only hematological effects consisted of slightly reduced meancorpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) values (NTP 1996a, 1996b, 1997).In rats and mice fed potassium dichromate for 9 weeks, MCV and MCH values were decreased at thehighest concentration only, which was equivalent to 8.4 and 9.8 mg chromium(VI)/kg/day in male andfemale rats, respectively (NTP 1996b) and 32.2 and 48 mg chromium(VI)/kg/day in male and femalemice respectively (NTP 1996a). These effects did not occur at lower dietary concentrations equivalent to#2.1 or #2.45 mg chromium(VI)/kg/day for male and female rats, respectively, or to #7.35 or #12 mg