ABSTRACT
TERESA MARGARIDA DOS SANTOS1,2*, MANUEL FERREIRA2,3, and MARIA DE LOURDES PEREIRA2,4
1Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
2CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
3Baixo Vouga Hospital Centre, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
4Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
*Corresponding author. E-mail: teresa@ua.pt
ABSTRACT
The biological behavior of chromium has been the goal of a large body of intense research. Chromium has been designated as an essential trace element for more than 50 years with a crucial role on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in both humans and animals. This chapter outlines from an historical perspective the evolution of the essential role of chromium, toward the current paradigm as toxic or pharmacologically active element. The essentiality versus the pharmacological relevance of chromium and its compounds is largely debated, and the irrefutable evidence of carcinogenic concerns of Cr(III)-tris-picolinate (CrPic) intake offered. Different scenarios for research in this area, including in vitro and in vivo studies, associated to epidemiological data, are here outlined for the understanding of the
biological properties of chromium. This chapter is a contribution for the in vivo data knowledge on CrPic and presents a case study using mice as a model. Examples based on our laboratory experiments had been designed in order to characterize CrPic-damaging effects within distant organs, such as thymus and epididymis, through histopathological techniques.
