The assessment of biomarkers in sentinel cattle for monitoring vanadium exposure

Abstract

Various potential biomarkers were sampled for vanadium every 3-4 months from Bos indicus beef cattle farmed extensively immediately adjacent (high exposure (HE) group) and two km away (low exposure (LE) group) from a vanadium processing plant, respectively. Vanadium intake (mg vanadium kg À1 bwt d À1) was modelled using environmental and physiological data as inputs. The vanadium intake ranged from 0.57 to 5.44 mg vanadium kg À1 bwt d À1 in the HE group and 0.41 to 2.61 mg vanadium kg À1 bwt d À1 in the LE group over a five-year period of monitoring.Samples collected from live sentinel animals over the five-year period included caudal coccygeal vertebrae, tail-switch hair, milk, urine, faeces, rib-bone biopsies and a wide range of blood clinical pathology and haematological parameters. The data was analysed for differences in response between the HE and LE groups. Where differences were found, a linear mixed-effects regression model was fitted to model the relationship between the exposure dose and the response variable.The model included the effects of age, duration of exposure and response, and allowed the prediction of the exposure dose given these inputs. Moreover, forty-two adult cattle were slaughtered over the five years. A wide range of tissue samples, rumen content and whole blood were taken from the cattle at slaughter for vanadium determination. In live animals, a difference in response was found between the HE group and LE group with respect to serum albumin (n = 36), monocyte (n = 36) and thrombocyte (n = 36) counts, and hair (n = 2) and faeces (n = 34) vanadium concentrations. No difference in vanadium concentrations could be shown for urine (n = 36), the traditional occupational health biomarker. Regression models are described for serum albumin, monocyte counts, faeces and hair, which showed the most promise as biomarkers. Average concentrations of vanadium in the tissues of slaughtered cattle ranged from 0.08 to 2.94 mg kg À1 (wet-weight basis) and rumen content contained 16.67 mg kg À1. Significant correlations were found between the exposure dose (end-dose) just prior to slaughter and the concentrations of vanadium in the coccygeal vertebrae, liver, diaphragm and rib-bone in descending order of magnitude. Other tissues showed poor correlation to the end-dose. Tissue levels of vanadium in healthy cattle include a much wider range than is currently reflected in the literature. The best tissue from slaughter animals for assessing chronic vanadium exposure is probably the liver.

A syndrome of facial paralysis of dairy calves in the Franklin district of New Zealand

“…The vanadium levels from liver and kidney samples obtained from all fi ve calves tested were lower than mean levels (liver 2.79 mg/kg and kidney 1.94 mg/kg) reported by Gummow et al (2006) for clinically normal cattle exposed to vanadium from a vanadium processing plant. However, liver and kidney levels for three of the calves tested (liver 0.24 mg/ kg, 0.36 mg/kg, and 1.5 mg/kg; and kidney 0.17 mg/kg, 0.87 mg/kg and 1.8 mg/kg, respectively) were higher than median levels reported by Frank et al (1996) for heifers with acute vanadium toxicity (0.22 mg/kg and 0.06 mg/kg for liver and kidney, respectively).…”

“…Additionally, toxicity with the metal vanadium, often associated with the slag by-product from steel production, resulted in facial paralysis in a small proportion of affected cattle (Frank et al 1990). Cattle affected with vanadium toxicity generally present with a wide array of other signs, including diarrhoea and ataxia (Frank et al 1996;McCrindle et al 2001;Gummow et al 2006).…”

A stochastic exposure assessment model to estimate vanadium intake by beef cattle used as sentinels for the South African vanadium mining industry

“…A total of 342 grass samples and 342 soil samples were collected over the 5-year period. At the same time, water samples (n = 62) were taken from the drinking troughs (the water itself came from the town council) and biological samples were taken from cattle (Gummow et al, 2006). The samples were analysed by the Institute of Soil, Climate and Water, Pretoria, South Africa, for concentrations of vanadium, using standard internationally accepted methods and quality-control procedures (USEPA Standard Methods, 1986, 1996; Handbook of Standard Soil Testing Methods for Advisory Purposes, 1990).…”

“…5) and concentrations of vanadium in water sources used by the cattle (mg/l) in each exposure area over the entire period of the trial. The structure of the model was designed to allow examination of vanadium concentrations for a particular year, season or period, to examine trends related to the consequence assessment, but these results are discussed elsewhere (Gummow, 2005;Gummow et al, 2006).…”

Influencia de la actividad antrópica en la geohidrología de la cuenca del río Samborombón

“…En este sector de la llanura costera elevadas concentraciones en Mn en el agua subterránea son frecuentes y su origen es explicado a la disolución sus óxidos, los cuales dominan en los sedimentos de este ambiente (Tanjal et al, 2018). Si bien no existen límites internacionales respecto a la concentración máxima de V, Gummow et al (2005) y numerosos autores han documentado que su exceso puede ser perjudicial para la salud. Asimismo la Ley nacional 24.051 ha establecido un límite máximo de 0,1 mg/L de V para agua de consumo del ganado, superando el 65% de las muestras este valor.…”