An assessment of the genotoxicity of vanadium.

The activities of vanadium oxide (V2O3), vanadyl sulfate (VOSO4) and ammonium metavanadate (NH4VO3) in inducing sister chromatid exchange (SCE) and chromosomal aberrations (CAb) were assayed in Chinese hamster ovary cells. The toxic concentrations (TC50) for these compounds were found to be 25, 23 and 16 micrograms elemental vanadium/ml, respectively. At does 1/50-1/4 TC50, vanadium compounds were able to induce significant increases (P less than 0.01) in the SCE frequency with or without the addition of rat hepatic S9 mix. These compounds also induced CAb in the cells at doses closely equivalent to the TC50.