Interactions between chromium(III) and iron(III), molybdenum(III) or nickel(II): Cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and mutagenicity studies

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of chromium(III) and iron(III) and molybdenum(III) and nickel(II) and their combinations on cyto-, genotoxicity and mutagenicity in BALB/3T3 and HepG2 cells. The results obtained from cytotoxicity assays indicate that there are differences between BALB/3T3 and HepG2 cell lines in their sensitivity to chromium chloride, iron chloride, molybdenum trioxide and nickel chloride. The statistically significant increase of DNA damage of all used microelements in both cell lines was observed. The micronucleus assay performed with the use of all concentrations shows statistically significant induction of chromosomal aberrations in all tested microelements in both cell lines. Moreover, treated cells display characteristic apoptosis in comparison to control cells. In all tested microelements, the increase of number of reverse mutations was observed with and without metabolic activation. Additions of Cr(III) at 200 μM plus Fe(III) at 1000 μM showed synergistic effect in decrease of cell viability and increase of comets, micronuclei and number of revertants in both cell lines. In case of Cr(III) at 200 μM plus Mo(III) at 1000 μM, a protective effect of chromium against molybdenum at 1000 μM toxicity in both cell lines (assessed by MTT, LDH and NRU, comet, micronucleus and Ames assays) was observed. The protective effect of Cr(III) in decrease of cell viability was observed in pair of Cr(III) at 200 μM and Ni(II) at 1000 μM in BALB/3T3 and HepG2 cell lines assessed by MTT, LDH and NRU, comet, micronucleus and Ames assays.