Pc. Dartsch et al., INVESTIGATIONS ON THE NEPHROTOXICITY AND HEPATOTOXICITY OF TRIVALENT AND HEXAVALENT CHROMIUM COMPOUNDS, International archives of occupational and environmental health, 71, 1998, pp. 40-45
In contrast to trivalent chromium (Cr(III)) compounds, hexavalent chro
mium ((Cr(VI)) compounds are oxidizing agents capable of directly indu
cing tissue damage and possessing carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratoge
nic potency. After oral or dermal absorption of Cr(VI), the kidney is
the main target organ for chromium accumulation, which might result in
acute tubular necrosis in humans, In contrast, an acute toxic effect
of Cr(VI) on the liver has not yet been described. Therefore, we used
two established epithelial cell lines from the kidney (Opossum kidney
cells) and the liver (Hep G2 cells) to design an in vitro-assay which
is able to examine acute toxic effects of chromium compounds. Cells of
both cell lines were treated with various concentrations of Cr(III) a
nd Cr(VI) ranging from 0.01 mu mol/l to 1 mmol/l for 24 h. Thereafter,
cell morphology, organization of the intracellular cytoskeleton, numb
er of viable cells and mean cell volume were examined. The results sho
w that Cr(VI), but not Cr(III), has an acute cytotoxic effect and caus
es a dose-dependent loss in cell viability. The effective dose that ca
used 50% of cell death was 5 mu mol/l for kidney epithelial cells and
50 mu mol/l for liver epithelial cells. This means that kidney epithel
ial cells are 10 times more sensitive towards Cr(VI) treatment than li
ver epithelial cells and this might explain the known nephrotoxicity i
n vive. The loss in cell viability was accompanied by a rounding and d
etachment of the cells and a marked reduction of intracellular F-actin
-containing stress fibers. Microtubules and intermediate-sized filamen
ts were observed to be unaffected. Only in the case of kidney epitheli
al cells, a dose-dependent cell volume increase was observed after Cr(
VI) treatment at concentrations up to 50 mu mol/l. At higher concentra
tions, the cell volume decreased due to the high number of cells under
going lysis and the appearance of cellular fragments. Various chloride
channel blockers with different specifities, molecular structures and
inhibitory potentials were tested for their ability to prevent Cr(VI)
-induced cell damage. None of the channel blockers was able to inhibit
cell damage, suggesting that the uptake of Cr(VI) through the general
anion transport system of the cell membrane might be only one facet o
f cellular uptake and toxification. The data presented here not only c
onfirm the different organ-specific effects of Cr(III) and Cr(VI), but
also provide a basis for future experiments on the understanding of a
cute toxicity of Cr(VI) compounds. Moreover, the results demonstrate t
hat the designed in vitro-assay might be a useful tool to prove whethe
r non-toxic Cr(III) can be oxidized to Cr(VI) under specific industria
l conditions (for example, in the leather or chrome industry).