F slight gastrointestinal reactions such as nausea and vomiting to more serious effects including hepatic

F slight gastrointestinal reactions such as nausea and vomiting to more serious effects including hepatic damage, primary liver cancers, and even death [2]. Now we have to pay attention that not only the Cr-operating workers, but also the general population may also be at risk because Cr (VI) and the compounds are now widespread in our intimately related SB 202190 web environment even in the food [3]. It is known that Cr (VI) enters the target cells and then undergoes metabolic reduction to pentavalent chromium [Cr (V], tetravalent chromium [Cr (IV)] and trivalent chromium [Cr (III)], causing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) [4]. ROS, including hydroxyl radicals (OH?, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and superoxide anion radical (O2?), are the molecules that contain an odd number of electrons.?The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Zhong et al. Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology (2017) 12:Page 2 ofThe main sources of intracellular ROS are enzymatic reactions, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphateoxidase (NADPH oxidase), and mitochondrial respiration [5]. Mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes (MRCCs), whose inhibition may cause the escape of electrons from electron transfer chain (ETC), are the most important source of heavy metal-induced ROS accumulation [6]. The major sites of ETC for ROS production remained controversial, and it is reported by others that MRCC III from the ETC is the major site for ROS production [7]. The members of antioxidant system including superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH) are known as ROS scavenging enzymes whose function are associated with the elimination of excess ROS. ROS play an important role in various cellular signaling processes at low levels while exert a cytotoxic effect by damaging macromolecules such as proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. The reduction of Cr (VI) results in the formation of free radicals which induce a cascade of cellular events including apoptosis, genotoxicity and carcinogenicity, but the related mechanisms of the accumulated free radicals still remain unclear. In the present study we hypothesize that the accumulation of free radicals after Cr (VI) exposure is associated with both the burst generation and the decreased elimination of ROS. Since there is accumulating evidence indicating a possible causative involvement of ROS in liver injury [8], the anti-oxidative PubMed ID:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28242652 therapy may be of great importance for the established Cr (VI)-associated liver diseases. Vitamin C (Vit C), also known as ascorbic acid, is necessary for the body and widely found in fruits and vegetables. Vit C plays a role as an essential coenzyme in the oxidative stress (OS) pathways, and is an important antioxidant and ROS scavenger. Therefore, Vit C is potentially useful as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of the disorders that associated with free radicals. The liver, an important body organ for its involvement in the bi.