Chromium (Cr) metal and Cr compounds are primarily used in applications like making stainless steel, polishing, and leather tanning. Chromium naturally occurs in air, water, rocks, and soil, via natural or anthropogenic sources. It exists in different oxidation states ranging from +6 to -2. The most stable forms are the trivalent Cr(III) and the hexavalent Cr (VI), which are interconvertible with each other. Chromium is an important trace element for human beings as it stimulates the breakdown of fatty acids and cholesterol. However, if exposed to a higher dose of chromium particles for a longer period, it can lead to human health toxicity and fatality. It is introduced into the environment through chemical and physical processes or even by biological transport systems in living organisms. Over the past decades, chromium contamination has become a significant threat with a negative influence on the environment, especially soil and water, and its accumulation affects human health, plant metabolism, and animal tissues. By gathering information from various published literature, we have highlighted the adversities caused by Chromium toxicity, for example, acute and chronic toxicity among human beings like carcinogenic potential, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and DNA adducts. This review focuses on the complex chemistry of chromium, its exposure routes, and hazardous effect of chromium on human health, and the mechanism of chromium toxicity upon entering the cells. Therefore, it is now important to investigate and develop various useful sustainable remediation strategies to balance and reduce the increased levels of chromium in the environment.
Isra et al. (Thu,) studied this question.