Re: research news from Great Smokies on nickel

[Guest guest]

Bernie, others....

Do you know anything about the use of gold under a crown when a root canal is

done?? My sister is getting this done and I told her no metals and she said

they use gold...what are the possible effects of this metal??? Thank you,

[ ] research news from Great Smokies on nickel

- NICKEL LEVELS IN URINE ASSOCIATED WITH DNA OXIDATIVE DAMAGE

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- MAY TRIGGER FREE RADICAL MECHANISMS UNDERLYING CANCER

When it comes to the carcinogenic properties of toxic metals, there

may be some literal truth to the phrase " getting nickled and dimed to

death. "

Nickel is an important industrial metal used to make stainless steel,

batteries, and electronic parts. At higher levels, the element is

also believed to be a carcinogen.

Because some nickel accumulates inside the body with prolonged

exposure and is released only slowly, elevations of nickel in urine

and blood have been reported in industry workers long after they were

exposed to the metal.

To examine how nickel exposure may be linked to the development of

cancerous tumors, researchers from Germany recently measured urinary

levels of nickel and other heavy metals in a cross-section of nearly

600 middle-aged residents (average age = 61). They compared toxic

element levels with the amount of free radical-induced DNA damage in

the residents' lymphocytes, the white blood cells that play a central

role in the body's immune defense.

Based on statistical analysis, they found a significant dose-response

relationship between urinary nickel levels and oxidative DNA damage

in lymphocytes. In general, the higher the urinary nickel levels in

urine, the more that DNA strands had " snapped " in the lymphocytes in

response to oxidative stress.

This type of increased damage to DNA - either through faulty cellular

repair mechanisms or through increased free radical activity - is

theorized to stimulate cancer. The researchers called for more

longitudinal studies to measure the specific effects of nickel

exposure on DNA oxidative damage over long time periods.

NOTE: Urinary excretion of nickel and many other potentially toxic

elements can be measured conveniently using random, spot, or 24-hour

collections with the Toxic Element Clearance Profile

(http://www.gsdl.com/assessments/elemental/clearance/index.html).

Many other analytes on this profile, including cadmium and chromium,

have also been identified as carcinogens at higher levels. For people

not exposed through work, the most likely source of nickel exposure

may be food.

RELATED ARTICLES/RESOURCES:

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Fact Sheet on

nickel: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts15.html

Cadmium: A Powerful Carcinogen

http://www.gsdl.com/news/connections/vol8/conn20000412.html

Source: Merzenich H, Hartwig A, Ahrens W, Beyersmann D, Schlepegrell

R, Scholze M, Timm J, Jöckel KH. Biomonitoring on carcinogenic metals

and oxidative DNA damage in a cross-sectional study. Cancer Epidemiol

Biomarkers Prev 2001;10(5):515-22. Full text available free at

http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/full/10/5/515

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