[In vitro analysis of the impact of metal ions on human lymphocyte cultures].

The use of metal implants has become increasingly more frequent in all fields of medicine throughout the past decades. Numerous studies have demonstrated that metal ions released from these implants can be detected in body fluids remote from the implants. Although diseases directly linked to the release of these ions seem to be rare, the general public is unsettled. In this study we aimed to analyze the impact of molybdenum(V), cobalt(II), chromium(III) and nickel(II) ions on cell surface markers (CD25, CD38, CD69, CD95) and viability (7-AAD/AnnexinV) of human CD4+ T-lymphocytes in vitro. Cobalt(II) ions at a concentration of 1000 μg/l led to a significant suppression of lymphocyte activation markers while nickel(II), chromium(III) and molybdenum(V) did not show any significant impact on these lymphocyte activation markers. Cell viability was significantly reduced by all metal ions, whereas cobalt(II) led to the highest increase of apoptotic cells and was the only metal ion to significantly increase the necrosis rate. While the pathophysiological significance of these findings remains unclear, they are in favour of further research in this field.