Chromium exposure happens daily, it is in the food and water we ingest, consumer products such as make up, and it is released by industrial activities. Chromium’s interaction with the human body is unusual because it has two main oxidation states with extremely different characteristics. The trivalent form is necessary for glucose metabolism and therefore essential for the human body while the hexavalent form is toxic and carcinogenic. This project investigates the dichotomy of the response the zebrafish system has to chromium’s two oxidation states. Zebrafish have been used increasingly as a model organism due to several advantages including rapid development, ease of care due to their small size, and transparent embryos. The zebrafish and the human genome also share a large amount of homology. These characteristics make the zebrafish an excellent organism in several areas of work; for instance the study of genetics, development, and in the case of this project - toxicology. This study details initial observations of trivalent chromium’s toxicity for zebrafish and research being done to characterize this toxicity. Detailing the embryotoxicity of trivalent chromium in zebrafish will provide insight on trivalent chromium’s possible ability to perturb human fetal development. Detailing this phenomenon would assist in the treatment of any identified issue.

Toxic effects of a once thought bioinactive chromium species

251st National Meeting (2016)

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