TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILE FOR CHROMIUM - Davidborowski.com

CHROMIUM 2172. HEALTH EFFECTScells), as well as physiologic signs of dysfunction such as increased blood pressure or decreased lungcapacity. Note that these markers are not often substance specific. They also may not be directlyadverse, but can indicate potential health impairment (e.g., DNA adducts). Biomarkers of effects causedby chromium are discussed in Section 2.8.2.A biomarker of susceptibility is an indicator of an inherent or acquired limitation of an organism's abilityto respond to the challenge of exposure to a specific xenobiotic substance. It can be an intrinsic geneticor other characteristic or a preexisting disease that results in an increase in absorbed dose, a decrease inthe biologically effective dose, or a target tissue response. If biomarkers of susceptibility exist, they arediscussed in Section 2.10, “Populations That Are Unusually Susceptible”.2.8.1 Biomarkers Used to Identify or Quantify Exposure to ChromiumNormal chromium levels in human fluid and tissues should be interpreted with caution. The lowsensitivity of the most commonly used detection methods and the ubiquitous presence of chromium inlaboratories make detection of low levels of chromium in blood and urine difficult. Everyone is exposedto chromium in the diet, estimated to range from 25 to 224 µg/day with an average of 76 µg/day(Kumpulainen et al. 1979). Only a small amount of dietary chromium is absorbed (#3%). Normalendogenous chromium levels for the general population (exposed only via the diet) have been reported as0.01–0.17 µg/L (median 0.06 µg/L) in serum (Sunderman et al. 1989), 0.24–1.8 µg/L (median 0.4 µg/L)in urine (Iyengar and Woittiez 1988), and 0.234 mg/kg in hair (Takagi et al. 1986).A group of elderly subjects, who received an average of 24.5 µg chromium(III)/day (0.00035 mg/kg/day)from their normal diets over a 5-day period, excreted an average of 0.4 µg chromium/day in the urine and23.9 µg chromium/day in the feces. The individual intake of chromium correlated linearly with the totalamount excreted (urine plus feces) (Bunker et al. 1984).There is a strong correlation between occupational exposure to chromium compounds and chromiumlevels in blood, urine, hair, and erythrocytes (Gylseth et al. 1977; Kilburn et al. 1990; Lewalter et al.1985; Lindberg and Vesterberg 1983a; McAughey et al. 1988; Minoia and Cavalleri 1988; Mutti et al.1985b; Randall and Gibson 1987, 1989; Saner et al. 1984; Simpson and Gibson 1992; Sjogren et al. 1983;Takagi et al. 1986; Tola et al. 1977; Wiegand et al. 1988).