Skin permeation and cutaneous hypersensitivity as a basis for making risk assessments of chromium as a soil contaminant.

Abstract

A literature review of experimental and human exposure studies of skin permeation and cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions evoked by chromium was carried out to provide a basis for making a risk assessment of chromium as a soil contaminant. In vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated that 1 to 4% of the applied dose of hexavalent and trivalent chromium to guinea pig skin penetrated skin within 5 to 24 hr after application. Ultrastructural investigations showed that hexavalent chromium localized intracellularly and extracellularly in the upper layers of guinea pig epidermis. Only minute quantities of hexavalent chromium are required to elicit a positive hypersensitivity reaction in susceptible individuals; using a patch dose of 20 micrograms, only 2 micrograms were required to evoke a positive skin reaction in hypersensitive subjects. The potential of hexavalent chromium to produce a skin sensitization reaction is readily demonstrated using animal models. The incidence and characteristics of chromium-induced skin hypersensitivity as a clinical entity are described. A health effects survey of populations exposed to chromium slag in soil in Tokyo, Japan extending over 8 years indicated a tendency toward symptoms characterized as headache, chronic fatigue, and gastrointestinal complaints, positive occult blood tests, minute hematuria and albuminuria suggestive of incipient renal disease, and a tendency toward an increase in contact dermatitis that was seasonally related. Multicenter patch test titration studies in human subjects using an incidence of positive patch tests of 10% or less showed that the threshold for skin hypersensitivity reactions to hexavalent chromium was determined to be of the order 0.001%, equivalent to 10 ppm or 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/L.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

An environmental contaminant, benzo(a)pyrene, induces oxidative stress-mediated interleukin-8 production in human keratinocytes via the aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling pathway

“…The skin functions as an immune organ against outside chemicals and pathogens. Several studies have been conducted on carcinogenesis by environmental contaminants [1,2]; however, little is known about the mechanism of inflammatory reactions to environmental contaminants in the skin [3]. Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is an environmental contaminant found in tabacco smoke and one of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).…”

Comparative Phytoremediation of Chromium‐Contaminated Soils by Fenugreek, Spinach, and Raya

“…Consumption of crop plants grown on these soils may create a serious health hazard. Long-term exposure of Cr (VI) is toxic to plants and animals (Ajmal, Nomani, and Ahmad 1984;Bishnoi et al 1993) and causes many health hazards (Burrows 1983;Bagdon and Hazen 1991). The relative mobility of Cr in soil depends upon the pH and Eh of soil and is controlled largely by its oxidation state (Nieboer and Jusys 1988).…”

Analysis and Speciation of Chromium in Environmental Matrices by Various Analytical Techniques

“…The inhalation route exposure more likely happens to the workers in industries such as welding, cutting and heating of chromium alloys. Dermal absorption of chromium to the workers in the previously mentioned industries was reported by many researchers [14][15][16] . Chromate ion can enters into the human bloodstream through breaks in the skin and causes blood poisoning when it destroys red blood corpuscles 2 .…”