ABSTRACT
A complex set of interrelationships involving physical, chemical, biological, and pharmacological factors are involved when a metal ion interacts with a biological system. Therefore, it is more important to characterize the metal-biological system than to characterize the species in a simple chemical system. In a comprehensive work, Walker et al. (2003) reviewed approximately 100 diverse contributions dating from 1835 to 2003 to evaluate the relationships between about 20 physicochemical properties of cations and their potential to produce toxic effects in different organisms.
