Experimental study and mathematical modeling of toxic metals combined action as a scientific foundation for occupational and environmental health risk assessment. A summary of results obtained by the Ekaterinburg research team (Russia)

Abstract

Graphical abstract

Combined Subchronic Toxicity of Aluminum (III), Titanium (IV) and Silicon (IV) Oxide Nanoparticles and Its Alleviation with a Complex of Bioprotectors

“…We used mathematical modeling for confirming the effect-dependent and dose-dependent ambiguity of the combined binary action typology. Since this experiment is just an additional piece of evidence in support of this fundamental postulate, justified and repeatedly confirmed previously [ 12 , 15 , 17 , 53 , 54 , 55 ], we confine ourselves in this paper to illustrating it with a few examples only. Thus, comparison of Figure 1 and Figure 2 shows that the combination (SiO 2 -NP + TiO 2 -NP) displays subadditivity of unidirectional action for one effect (increase in the concentration of ceruloplasmin in the blood serum) and contra-directional action for another one (increase in AST concentration).…”

The most important inferences from the Ekaterinburg nanotoxicology team’s animal experiments assessing adverse health effects of metallic and metal oxide nanoparticles

“…Generally speaking, we were able to answer this question in the affirmative without reservations. Since all of these works have already been overviewed and illustrated by us in this Journal [ 65 ], it would be inappropriate to do the same here again, and we may restrict ourselves to formulating just the main postulates inferred from our research and illustrate them with a few examples. The widely assumed theoretical paradigms of effect additivity vs dose additivity as essentially different kinds of combined toxicity proved to be, in our experiments, virtually interchangeable and so might be regarded as different methods of combined toxicity modeling rather than as concepts reflecting fundamentally differing processes.…”

Some outcomes and a hypothetical mechanism of combined lead and benzo(a)pyrene intoxication, and its alleviation with a complex of bioprotectors

“…The problem of combined toxicity pertains to the theoretically most complex and practically important challenges in preventive toxicology [ [1] , [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] ]. Over a number of years, it has been a subject of extensive studies for our research team [ [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] ]. One of the least studied aspects of this problem is the possibility that inorganic toxicants (lead compounds in particular) may have some effect on the biotransformation of organic ones and thus on their toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics.…”