Abstract

RODRIGUEZ-MERCADO, Juan José  and  ALTAMIRANO-LOZANO, Mario Agustín. VANADIO: CONTAMINACIÓN, METABOLISMO Y GENOTOXICIDAD. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2006, vol.22, n.4, pp.173-189. ISSN 0188-4999.

Vanadium is a transition metal widely distributed in the environment and in biological systems, and it is a major trace element in fossil fuels. Consequently, combustion of these materials is a significant source of vanadium in the environment. In the periodical table, vanadium belongs to the first transition series and can form compounds mainly in valences III, IV and V. The V state of vanadium, as vanadate, predominates in extracellular body fluids whereas the IV form is the most common intracellular form. Research on biological influence of vanadium has gained major importance because it is well known that is exerts potent toxic, mutagenic, and genotoxic effects on a wide variety of biological systems, including that recently compounds as the vanadium pentoxide, has been classified by the IARC (2006) as a possible carcinogenic agent for humans. Information about the clastogenic effects of vanadium compounds is limited and controversial, and data about its mutagenic and genotoxic potential in bacterial, yeast and plants are inconclusive. On the other hand, results obtained in mammalian cells, both in vivo and in vitro, indicate that vanadium compounds produce mutagenic and genotoxic responses, however, the most evident action exhibited by this metal compounds is their ability to disrupt microtubule function, and consistent cytotoxic and cytostatic effects. By these reasons some authors, including us, classify vanadium as a weak mutagen.

Keywords : metals toxicity; mutagenic effects; genotoxic effects; cell toxicity; vanadium.