England M W, Turner J E, Hingerty B E, Jacobson K B
Health and Safety Research Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN 37831.
Health Phys. 1989;57 Suppl 1:115-8; discussion 119. doi: 10.1097/00004032-198907001-00014.
Our previous attempts to predict the toxicities of 24 metal ions for a given species, using physicochemical parameters associated with the ions, are summarized. In our current attempt we have chosen indicators of toxicity for biological systems of increasing levels of complexity--starting with individual biological molecules and ascending to mice as representative of higher-order animals. The numerical values for these indicators have been normalized to a scale of 100 for Mg2+ (essentially nontoxic) and 0 for Cd2+ (very toxic). To give predicted toxicities to humans, extrapolations across biological species have been made for each of the metal ions considered. The predicted values are then compared with threshold limit values (TLV) from the literature. Both methods for predicting toxicities have their advantages and disadvantages, and both have limited success for metal ions. However, the second approach suggests that the TLV for Cu2+ should be lower than that currently recommended.
