Similarity in metabolic patterns of different chemical species of vanadium in the rat.

To gain information about the influence of the oxidation state of vanadium on its metabolic behavior, different 48V-labeled vanadium compounds, such as cationic VO2+(V), VO2+(IV), V3+(III), and anionic V4O12(3-)(V), VS4(3-)(V) species were prepared and intravenously injected into rats. The 48V radioactivity was measured in whole tissues as well as in nuclei, mitochondria, lysosomes, microsomes, and cytosols from liver and kidney homogenates. The distribution of 48V radioactivity between the plasma components was investigated using gel filtration of the 48V-labeled plasma. The findings indicate that there are common pathways of the different chemical forms of vanadium in animals. The similarities are referred to the distribution in different tissues and their intracellular distribution as well as to the transport in the blood, in which 48V was always found in the plasma bound to transferrin. The results obtained tend to exclude a possible influence of the oxidation state of vanadium on its metabolism and support the existence in the body of two mechanisms of conversion of different chemical forms of vanadium ions to one with the same valence.