Evaluation of toxicity and insulin mimetic properties of vanadium compounds

INOR 818

Andreia Figueiredo, gcastro@ci.uc.pt1, Henrique Faneca, henrique@cnc.uc.pt1, Graça Brotas2, Isabel Tomaz, aitomaz@mail.ist.utl.pt2, Isabel Correia, pcic073@mail.ist.utl.pt2, João Costa Pessoa, pcjpessoa@mail.ist.utl.pt2, Carlos F. G. C. Geraldes1, M. Conceição P. Lima, mdelima@ci.uc.pt1, and M. Margarida C. A. Castro, gcastro@ci.uc.pt1. (1) Departamento de Bioquímica, Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Centro de RMN, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, 3001-401, Portugal, (2) Centro de Química Estrutural, Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, Lisboa, 1049-001, Portugal
Vanadium compounds (VCs) have attracted much interest in the last years due to their important pharmacological properties, particularly in diabetes and cancer therapy. In this work, the VCs to be tested were selected according to some favorable properties concerning solubility and stability in aqueous solution at physiological pH. HeLa tumor cell line has been used to evaluate VCs toxicity, potential anti-tumor activity and reversibility to drug effects. The observed toxic effects were found to be concentration- and time-dependent and specific for each compound, which seems to be correlated with VCs cellular uptake. To test VCs insulin mimetic properties, studies are currently being performed in the 3T3-L1 cell line involving determination of glucose uptake and lactate production, using standard biochemical assays. In these cells, the decrease of cell viability induced by VCs is more sensitive and more gradual than the one observed in HeLa cells.
 

5th International Symposium on Chemistry and Biological Chemistry of Vanadium: Posters in Biochemistry and Chemistry
7:00 PM-10:00 PM, Tuesday, 12 September 2006 Moscone Center -- Hall D, Poster

Sci-Mix
8:00 PM-10:00 PM, Monday, 11 September 2006 Moscone Center -- Hall D, Sci-Mix

Division of Inorganic Chemistry

The 232nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, September 10-14, 2006