title: Nutritional supplement chromium picolinate causes sterility and lethal mutations in Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: The nutritional dietary supplement chromium picolinate, [Cr(pic)(3)], has gained much notoriety as a safe supplement that supposedly promotes fat loss and muscle enhancement in humans. Thus, a significant industry has materialized around the incorporation of [Cr(pic)(3)] in many sports foods and drinks and a variety of weight loss products. However, in vitro studies have suggested that low levels of [Cr(pic)(3)] in the presence of biological reducing agents can catalytically generate reactive oxygen species, and recent in vivo studies have detected oxidative damage in rats receiving the supplement. The potential deleterious in vivo effects of this activity were examined by using Drosophila melanogaster. [Cr(pic)(3)], but not CrCl(3), at levels of 260 microg Crkg food or less were found to lower the success rate of pupation and eclosion and to arrest development of pupae in a concentration dependent fashion. X-linked lethal analysis indicates that the supplement greatly enhances the rate of appearance of lethal mutations and dominant female sterility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA.
authors.forename: Dion D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Hepburn
authors.forename: Jiarong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Sharell
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bindom
authors.forename: John B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Vincent
authors.forename: Janis
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: O'Donnell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019587:Dietary Supplements / Q000633:toxicity*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D005020:Ethyl Methanesulfonate; D005260:Female; D005804:Genes, Lethal; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000235:genetics; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D016296:Mutagenesis; D010058:Oviposition / Q000187:drug effects*; D010848:Picolinic Acids / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity*; D011679:Pupa / Q000187:drug effects; D014960:X Chromosome
chemical_list: D010848:Picolinic Acids; D005020:Ethyl Methanesulfonate; C030614:picolinic acid