In my Biological Inorganic Chemistry class, we were assigned an element and asked to find three biological uses for the given element. The element I was assigned is vanadium and its role/uses in biological functions is still somewhat unclear. Vanadium is widely know for its toxicity, so only traces of it are found in the human body. Though unclear exactly how vanadium works in the human body, these traces of vanadium are connected to the thyroid and glucose and lipid metabolism, and a deficiency of vanadium causes a malfunction of these biological pathways. The most promising medical use for vanadium is its use in the treating of diabetes (aka "the sugar"). Vanadium is useful in this field because it has properties that mimic insulin, but not all of the effects of vanadium are positive, such as it blocking many essential enzymes, and this is why it is not used in products on the market. There is also a possibility that vanadium complexes could be used to treat tumors or parasites, but there is still much research and testing to be done before vanadium will be used to treat such things. While vanadium shows some promise for biological/medical uses, there are still too many uncertainties on its effects on the human body.
-The High School Chemist
Sources
-http://www.scitopics.com/Vanadium_Biochemistry_Toxicology_and_Pharmacology.html
-http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TCR-4BWYSB8-1&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F21%2F2004&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1621022979&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=110286a61342394abc5768e8b007c2bf&searchtype=a
-http://www.diabetesnet.com/vanad.php#axzz1CBFn2fl4
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It seems that people are not really sure whether vanadium is good or bad. I know that some people with high cholesterol use it because it might decrease blood cholesterol (as you said lipid metabolism) and enhance energy production (probably in conjunction with the thyroid). I was wondering about the mechanism of how vanadium might be used in our body but you said little is known about it. Well, it was an interesting and informative post.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post I feel that researchers should take a closer look into vanadium to really find out whether or not this compound could be good or bad. However, vanadium is needed in the human body but only in small amounts due to the fact that vanadium is a trace element. In addition, it plays a role in cellular metabolism with the formation of bones, teeth, reproduction and growth. I do however, found it interesting that vanadium plays a vital role in helping to prevent heart attacks due to the inhibition of the formation of cholesterol.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the information of how vanadium mimics some of the effects of insulin in the blood to counteract diabetes and how vanadium has adverse affects on certain enzymes, it seems logical for researchers to pursue answers as to how and why vanadium affects those enzymes (and which ones) and how it may be contained to just the blood stream or make the vanadium compounds specific to only work to mimic insulin and not affect the enzymes.
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