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EC number: 222-357-3 | CAS number: 3444-17-5
- Life Cycle description
- Uses advised against
- Endpoint summary
- Appearance / physical state / colour
- Melting point / freezing point
- Boiling point
- Density
- Particle size distribution (Granulometry)
- Vapour pressure
- Partition coefficient
- Water solubility
- Solubility in organic solvents / fat solubility
- Surface tension
- Flash point
- Auto flammability
- Flammability
- Explosiveness
- Oxidising properties
- Oxidation reduction potential
- Stability in organic solvents and identity of relevant degradation products
- Storage stability and reactivity towards container material
- Stability: thermal, sunlight, metals
- pH
- Dissociation constant
- Viscosity
- Additional physico-chemical information
- Additional physico-chemical properties of nanomaterials
- Nanomaterial agglomeration / aggregation
- Nanomaterial crystalline phase
- Nanomaterial crystallite and grain size
- Nanomaterial aspect ratio / shape
- Nanomaterial specific surface area
- Nanomaterial Zeta potential
- Nanomaterial surface chemistry
- Nanomaterial dustiness
- Nanomaterial porosity
- Nanomaterial pour density
- Nanomaterial photocatalytic activity
- Nanomaterial radical formation potential
- Nanomaterial catalytic activity
- Endpoint summary
- Stability
- Biodegradation
- Bioaccumulation
- Transport and distribution
- Environmental data
- Additional information on environmental fate and behaviour
- Ecotoxicological Summary
- Aquatic toxicity
- Endpoint summary
- Short-term toxicity to fish
- Long-term toxicity to fish
- Short-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates
- Long-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates
- Toxicity to aquatic algae and cyanobacteria
- Toxicity to aquatic plants other than algae
- Toxicity to microorganisms
- Endocrine disrupter testing in aquatic vertebrates – in vivo
- Toxicity to other aquatic organisms
- Sediment toxicity
- Terrestrial toxicity
- Biological effects monitoring
- Biotransformation and kinetics
- Additional ecotoxological information
- Toxicological Summary
- Toxicokinetics, metabolism and distribution
- Acute Toxicity
- Irritation / corrosion
- Sensitisation
- Repeated dose toxicity
- Genetic toxicity
- Carcinogenicity
- Toxicity to reproduction
- Specific investigations
- Exposure related observations in humans
- Toxic effects on livestock and pets
- Additional toxicological data
Endpoint summary
Administrative data
Key value for chemical safety assessment
Effects on fertility
Description of key information
There are 2 subchronic oral toxicity studies similar to OECD 408 guideline conducted with the source substance Chromium picolinate monohydrate (Rhodes et al, 2005). These studies also examined the potential effects of the substance on reproductive organs, sperm parameters and estrous cycle. None of these parameters were affected whatever the dose is, the maximum dose corresponds to 4683 mg/kg bw Chromium 2-ethylhexanoate (average daily dose) for rats. Therefore, it can be foreseen that Chromium 2-ethlyhexanoate will not affect fertility parameters.
Link to relevant study records
- Endpoint:
- reproductive toxicity, other
- Remarks:
- effects on sperm parameters and estrous cycle
- Type of information:
- read-across from supporting substance (structural analogue or surrogate)
- Adequacy of study:
- key study
- Reliability:
- 2 (reliable with restrictions)
- Rationale for reliability incl. deficiencies:
- study well documented, meets generally accepted scientific principles, acceptable for assessment
- Justification for type of information:
- 1. HYPOTHESIS FOR THE ANALOG APPROACH
The read across follows Scenario 2 - Different compounds have qualitatively similar properties: properties of the target substance predicted to be quantitatively equal to those of the source substance or prediction based on a worst-case approach (as described in the 2017 Read-Across Assessment Framework document).
2. SOURCE AND TARGET CHEMICAL(S) (INCLUDING INFORMATION ON PURITY AND IMPURITIES)
TARGET: Chromium tris(2-ethylhexanoate) (EC 222-357-3, CAS 3444-17-5)
SOURCE: Chromium picolinate monohydrate (CAS n° 27882-76-4)
3. ANALOG APPROACH JUSTIFICATION
The target substance and the source substance are organic salts of Chromium (3+). The organic counter ion of the target and source substances are small (6-8 carbon) carboxylic acids of similar molecular weight and polarity. The biologically-reactive center of all the molecules would be predicted to be the Cr (3+).
4. DATA MATRIX
See Read Across document attached to CSR. - Reason / purpose for cross-reference:
- reference to same study
- Reason / purpose for cross-reference:
- reference to other study
- Reason / purpose for cross-reference:
- reference to other study
- Qualifier:
- no guideline followed
- Principles of method if other than guideline:
- At the end of a 3-month study equivalent to an OECD 408 guideline study, samples were collected for sperm count and motility from male rats. Vaginal cytology evaluations were also performed on the last 12 days of the study from female rats.
- GLP compliance:
- not specified
- Limit test:
- no
- Species:
- mouse
- Strain:
- B6C3F1
- Sex:
- male/female
- Details on test animals or test system and environmental conditions:
- origin: Taconic Laboratory Animals and Services, Germantown, NY, USA
age at initiation of the study: 6 weeks old
weight at initiation of the study: male = 19.4 - 19.6 g and female = 16.7 - 16.9 g
acclimatation period: 11-14 days
housing: 5 female animals per cage and 1 male animal per cage
temperature: 72+/- 3°F
relative humidity: 50 +/- 15%
12 hours light/dark cycle
feed and water available at libitum - Route of administration:
- oral: feed
- Vehicle:
- other: diet
- Details on exposure:
- Dose formulations were prepared with irradiated NTP-2000 open formula diet (from Zeigle Brothers, Inc., Gardners, PA, USA).
Dose formulations were prepared 4 times thoughout the study.
Chromium picolinate monohydrate in feed was stable for at least 42 days when stored at room temperature, protected from light, and under simulated animal room conditions at a concentration of 82 ppm for 8 days at room temperature. - Details on mating procedure:
- No mating procedure.
- Analytical verification of doses or concentrations:
- yes
- Details on analytical verification of doses or concentrations:
- Dose formulations were analyzed 3 times during the study: all samples were within 10% of the target concentrations.
- Duration of treatment / exposure:
- 93 days
- Frequency of treatment:
- ad libitum
- Dose / conc.:
- 2 000 ppm
- Dose / conc.:
- 10 000 ppm
- Dose / conc.:
- 50 000 ppm
- No. of animals per sex per dose:
- 10 male and 10 female per dose
- Control animals:
- yes, plain diet
- Parental animals: Observations and examinations:
- Clinical findings recorded weekly
Food consumption measured weekly by cage
Animals weight: day 1, weekly thoughout the study and at sacrifice
Hematology and clinical chemistry analyses: days 3, 21 (special study) and 93 (core study): rats were bled from the retroorbital sinus while under CO2/O2 anesthesia before sacrifice
Clinical chemistry parameters evaluated include sorbitol dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, creatine kinase, creatinine, total protein,
albumin, blood urea nitrogen, total bile acids, and alanine aminotransferase
Hematology parameters evaluated include erythrocyte count, hemoglobin, packed cell volume (automated and spun hematocrit), mean orpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, platelet count, reticulocyte count, nucleated red blood cell
count, total leukocyte count, differential leukocyte counts, red blood cell morphology, and platelet morphology
- Oestrous cyclicity (parental animals):
- Evaluation of vaginal smears, cycle length and number of cycles
- Sperm parameters (parental animals):
- Sperm motility, number of sperm per mg cauda, total number of sperm per cauda, number of spermatids per mg testis, total number of spermatids per testis, weight of right testis
- Postmortem examinations (parental animals):
- Surviving animals (all) were sacrified and examined. Complete necropsy performed on all study animals: liver, right kidney, heart, lungs, thymus and right testis (males) were weighed, microscopy examinations were carried out.
- Statistics:
- Organ and bodyweight data were analyzed with analysis of variance followed by the parametric multiple comparison procedures of Dunnett and Williams.
- Clinical signs:
- no effects observed
- Description (incidence and severity):
- Administration of Chromium picolinate monohydrate produced no clinical signs of toxicity.
- Mortality:
- no mortality observed
- Description (incidence):
- All mice survived to the end of the study.
- Body weight and weight changes:
- no effects observed
- Description (incidence and severity):
- Final mean body weights of mice were similar to those of the controls.
- Food consumption and compound intake (if feeding study):
- no effects observed
- Description (incidence and severity):
- Feed consumption by exposed rats was similar to that by the vehicule controls.
- Food efficiency:
- not specified
- Water consumption and compound intake (if drinking water study):
- not specified
- Ophthalmological findings:
- not examined
- Haematological findings:
- no effects observed
- Description (incidence and severity):
- No changes in hematology variables occured in mice administered Chromum picolinate monohydrate.
- Clinical biochemistry findings:
- no effects observed
- Description (incidence and severity):
- There were no statistically significant clinical chemistry changes observed in rats exposed to the substance.
- Urinalysis findings:
- not examined
- Behaviour (functional findings):
- not examined
- Immunological findings:
- not examined
- Organ weight findings including organ / body weight ratios:
- effects observed, non-treatment-related
- Histopathological findings: non-neoplastic:
- effects observed, non-treatment-related
- Description (incidence and severity):
- Histopathological lesions were considered spontaneous or incidental and not related to substance's exposure.
- Reproductive function: oestrous cycle:
- effects observed, non-treatment-related
- Description (incidence and severity):
- Evaluation of vaginal smears did not reveal any significant differences among the females in the amount of time spent in different estrous stages, the number of cycles, or the number of females with regular cycles. Estrous cycle length increased by 31% in females exposed to 10,000 ppm of Chromium picolinate monohyrate (5.1 ± 0.5 in exposed mice versus 3.9 ± 0.2 in controls), primarily due to 2 individual animals who had 8-daycy cles. This was not considered to be indicative of reproductive toxicity because all other parameters were normal, the other animals in the group had cycles of normal length, and no corresponding changes occurred in females exposed to 50,000 ppm of Chromium picolinate monohydrate.
- Reproductive function: sperm measures:
- no effects observed
- Description (incidence and severity):
- There were no alterations in sperm motility, number of sperm per mg cauda, total number of sperm per cauda, number of spermatids per mg testis, and total numbers of spermatids per testis in exposed animals.
- Reproductive performance:
- not examined
- Dose descriptor:
- NOAEL
- Remarks on result:
- not determinable because of methodological limitations
- Remarks:
- no NOAEL identified - generation not specified
- Dose descriptor:
- NOAEL
- Remarks on result:
- not determinable because of methodological limitations
- Remarks:
- no NOAEL identified - generation not specified
- Reproductive effects observed:
- not specified
- Conclusions:
- In this study similar to OECD 408 guideline study conducted with mice exposed to Chromium picolinate monohydrate, no changes in absolute or relative reproductive organ weights were noted and no gross and histopathological findings were observed. Investigations of sperm parameters, vaginal smears and female cycle length/number of cycles revealed no treatment-related effects.
- Endpoint:
- reproductive toxicity, other
- Remarks:
- effects on sperm parameters and estrous cycle
- Type of information:
- read-across from supporting substance (structural analogue or surrogate)
- Adequacy of study:
- key study
- Reliability:
- 2 (reliable with restrictions)
- Rationale for reliability incl. deficiencies:
- study well documented, meets generally accepted scientific principles, acceptable for assessment
- Justification for type of information:
- 1. HYPOTHESIS FOR THE ANALOG APPROACH
The read across follows Scenario 2 - Different compounds have qualitatively similar properties: properties of the target substance predicted to be quantitatively equal to those of the source substance or prediction based on a worst-case approach (as described in the 2017 Read-Across Assessment Framework document).
2. SOURCE AND TARGET CHEMICAL(S) (INCLUDING INFORMATION ON PURITY AND IMPURITIES)
TARGET: Chromium tris(2-ethylhexanoate) (EC 222-357-3, CAS 3444-17-5)
SOURCE: Chromium picolinate monohydrate (CAS n° 27882-76-4)
3. ANALOG APPROACH JUSTIFICATION
The target substance and the source substance are organic salts of Chromium (3+). The organic counter ion of the target and source substances are small (6-8 carbon) carboxylic acids of similar molecular weight and polarity. The biologically-reactive center of all the molecules would be predicted to be the Cr (3+).
4. DATA MATRIX
See Read Across document attached to CSR. - Reason / purpose for cross-reference:
- reference to same study
- Reason / purpose for cross-reference:
- reference to other study
- Reason / purpose for cross-reference:
- reference to other study
- Qualifier:
- no guideline followed
- Principles of method if other than guideline:
- At the end of a 3-month study equivalent to an OECD 408 guideline study, samples were collected for sperm count and motility from male rats. Vaginal cytology evaluations were also performed on the last 12 days of the study from female rats.
- GLP compliance:
- not specified
- Limit test:
- no
- Species:
- rat
- Strain:
- Fischer 344
- Sex:
- male/female
- Details on test animals or test system and environmental conditions:
- origin: Taconic Laboratory Animals and Services, Germantown, NY, USA
age at initiation of the study: 6 weeks old
weight at initiation of the study: male = 91 - 92 g and female = 93 - 94 g
acclimatation period: 11-14 days
housing: 5 animals per cage
temperature: 72+/- 3°F
relative humidity: 50 +/- 15%
12 hours light/dark cycle
feed and water available at libitum - Route of administration:
- oral: feed
- Vehicle:
- other: diet
- Details on exposure:
- Dose formulations were prepared with irradiated NTP-2000 open formula diet (from Zeigle Brothers, Inc., Gardners, PA, USA).
Dose formulations were prepared 4 times thoughout the study.
Chromium picolinate monohydrate in feed was stable for at least 42 days when stored at room temperature, protected from light, and under simulated animal room conditions at a concentration of 82 ppm for 8 days at room temperature. - Details on mating procedure:
- No mating procedure.
- Analytical verification of doses or concentrations:
- yes
- Details on analytical verification of doses or concentrations:
- Dose formulations were analyzed 3 times during the study: all samples were within 10% of the target concentrations.
- Duration of treatment / exposure:
- 93 days
- Frequency of treatment:
- ad libitum
- Dose / conc.:
- 2 000 ppm
- Dose / conc.:
- 10 000 ppm
- Dose / conc.:
- 50 000 ppm
- No. of animals per sex per dose:
- 10 male and 10 female per dose
- Control animals:
- yes, plain diet
- Parental animals: Observations and examinations:
- Clinical findings recorded weekly
Food consumption measured weekly by cage
Animals weight: day 1, weekly thoughout the study and at sacrifice
Hematology and clinical chemistry analyses: days 3, 21 (special study) and 93 (core study): rats were bled from the retroorbital sinus while under CO2/O2 anesthesia before sacrifice
Clinical chemistry parameters evaluated include sorbitol dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, creatine kinase, creatinine, total protein,
albumin, blood urea nitrogen, total bile acids, and alanine aminotransferase
Hematology parameters evaluated include erythrocyte count, hemoglobin, packed cell volume (automated and spun hematocrit), mean orpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, platelet count, reticulocyte count, nucleated red blood cell
count, total leukocyte count, differential leukocyte counts, red blood cell morphology, and platelet morphology
- Oestrous cyclicity (parental animals):
- Evaluation of vaginal smears, cycle length and number of cycles
- Sperm parameters (parental animals):
- Sperm motility, number of sperm per mg cauda, total number of sperm per cauda, number of spermatids per mg testis, total number of spermatids per testis, weight of right testis
- Postmortem examinations (parental animals):
- Surviving animals (all) were sacrified and examined. Complete necropsy performed on all study animals: liver, right kidney, heart, lungs, thymus and right testis (males) were weighed, microscopy examinations were carried out.
- Statistics:
- Organ and bodyweight data were analyzed with analysis of variance followed by the parametric multiple comparison procedures of Dunnett and Williams.
- Clinical signs:
- no effects observed
- Description (incidence and severity):
- Administration of Chromium picolinate monohydrate produced no clinical signs of toxicity.
- Mortality:
- no mortality observed
- Description (incidence):
- All rats survived to the end of the study.
- Body weight and weight changes:
- no effects observed
- Description (incidence and severity):
- No significant compound-related effects on growth and final mean body weights of rats were observed.
- Food consumption and compound intake (if feeding study):
- no effects observed
- Description (incidence and severity):
- Feed consumption by exposed rats was similar to that by the vehicule controls.
- Food efficiency:
- not specified
- Water consumption and compound intake (if drinking water study):
- not specified
- Ophthalmological findings:
- not examined
- Haematological findings:
- no effects observed
- Description (incidence and severity):
- There were no statistically significant hematological changes observed in rats exposed to the substance.
- Clinical biochemistry findings:
- no effects observed
- Description (incidence and severity):
- There were no statistically significant clinical chemistry changes observed in rats exposed to the substance.
- Urinalysis findings:
- not examined
- Behaviour (functional findings):
- not examined
- Immunological findings:
- not examined
- Organ weight findings including organ / body weight ratios:
- effects observed, non-treatment-related
- Histopathological findings: non-neoplastic:
- effects observed, non-treatment-related
- Description (incidence and severity):
- Histopathological lesions were considered spontaneous or incidental and not related to substance's exposure.
- Reproductive function: oestrous cycle:
- effects observed, non-treatment-related
- Description (incidence and severity):
- Evaluation of vaginal smears did not reveal any significant differences among the females in the amount of time spent in different estrous
stages, the cycle length, or the number of cycles. There was an increase in the number of females with regular cycles in the group exposed to 50,000 ppm of Chromium picolinate monohydrate. - Reproductive function: sperm measures:
- no effects observed
- Description (incidence and severity):
- Sperm motility, number of sperm per mg cauda, total number of sperm per cauda, number of spermatids per mg testis, and total number of spermatids per testis of animals exposed to Chromium picolinate monohydrate were similar to those of control animals.
- Reproductive performance:
- not examined
- Dose descriptor:
- NOAEL
- Remarks on result:
- not determinable because of methodological limitations
- Remarks:
- no NOAEL identified - generation not specified
- Dose descriptor:
- NOAEL
- Remarks on result:
- not determinable because of methodological limitations
- Remarks:
- no NOAEL identified - generation not specified
- Reproductive effects observed:
- not specified
- Conclusions:
- In this study similar to OECD 408 guideline study conducted with rats exposed to Chromium picolinate monohydrate, no changes in absolute or relative reproductive organ weights were noted and no gross and histopathological findings were observed. Investigations of sperm parameters, vaginal smears and female cycle length/number of cycles revealed no treatment-related effects.
Referenceopen allclose all
Effect on fertility: via oral route
- Endpoint conclusion:
- no adverse effect observed
Effect on fertility: via inhalation route
- Endpoint conclusion:
- no study available
Effect on fertility: via dermal route
- Endpoint conclusion:
- no study available
Additional information
The acute and repeated-dose toxicity studies conducted on animals with both the target substance and the source substance reflect that Chromium (III) is poorly absorbed via oral route. No systemic effects were recorded. Therefore, additional testing into reproductive toxicity was deemed not necessary based on no systemic absorption occurring via the oral route.
Effects on developmental toxicity
Effect on developmental toxicity: via oral route
- Endpoint conclusion:
- no study available
Effect on developmental toxicity: via inhalation route
- Endpoint conclusion:
- no study available
Effect on developmental toxicity: via dermal route
- Endpoint conclusion:
- no study available
Justification for classification or non-classification
As per the 18th ATP of Regulation (EC) 1272/2008, Chromium 2-ethylhexanoate (metal salt of 2-ethylhexanoic acid) is legally classified for developmental effects as reprotoxic, cat. 1 - H360D: May damage the unborn child.
No classification for fertility according to Regulation (EC) 1272/2008 is required for Chromium 2-ethylhexanoate based on available data.
Additional information
Information on Registered Substances comes from registration dossiers which have been assigned a registration number. The assignment of a registration number does however not guarantee that the information in the dossier is correct or that the dossier is compliant with Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (the REACH Regulation). This information has not been reviewed or verified by the Agency or any other authority. The content is subject to change without prior notice.
Reproduction or further distribution of this information may be subject to copyright protection. Use of the information without obtaining the permission from the owner(s) of the respective information might violate the rights of the owner.