Bismuth vanadium tetraoxide

Endpoint summary

Description of key information

Bioaccumulation

C.I. Pigment Yellow 184 does not significantly accumulate in organisms as expected regarding the extremely low water solubility. The bioconcentration factors determind in a study on Oryzias latipes ranged from < 1.2 to < 14.

This is supported by data on vanadium. In a review by Miramand & Fowler (1998) data from areas of likely local contamination from industrial sources are reported. The authors calculated concentration factors for components of a typical marine food chain based on average seawater concentrations of 2 ng/g and reported levels of vanadium in marine organisms.

Concentration factors for primary producers ranged from 40 to 560, for primary consumers from 40 to 150, for secondary consumers from approximately 20 to 150, and for tertiary con sumers from approximately 2 to 400.

With the exception of ascidians (tunicates), some annelids, and molluscs, concentrations of vanadium in marine organisms are low

Organisms generally do not concentrate or accumulate vanadium from environmental media to a high degree, and there is no indication of biomagnification in food chains.

Key value for chemical safety assessment

Bioaccumulation potential:

no bioaccumulation potential

Additional information

Absorption

The bioavailability of the test material is low following oral, inhalation and intraperitoneal exposure as evidenced by no observed toxicity in the acute oral study up to 5000 mg/kg bw, no systemic effects in subacute and subchronic repeated dose studies and an in vivo micronucleus test after intraperitoneal administration.

Additionally, bioavailability of the vanadium ion was not observed in any of the repeated dose inhalation studies as all measurements in the different tissue types were either below or at the limit of detection. The low bioavailability of the bismuth vanadate is in agreement with the dissolution of bismuth vanadate in comparison with vanadium pentoxide which was done according to the OECD 29 protocol (see water solubility). The test revealed that the concentration of bismuth and vanadium were at or below the limit of detection at pH 5.5 and 6.5 and only slightly above the limit of detection at pH 8.5.

Distribution

In a 28 -day repeated dose study the test substance did not translocate to the liver or the brain after inhalation exposure and low amounts of bismuth were found in the kidney only at the highest dose tested. Vanadium was also detected in the kidney at the highest dose, albeit only around the limit of detection. This is in line with the low solubility (< 1.0 µg/L at 20 °C) of the test substance at physiological pH values (5.5 - 8.0) as determined by a study following the OECD 29 protocol (see water solubility).

Excretion

Information on the excretion is not available, although information gained from the acute oral study indicate that little if any of the substance is taken up from the gastro intestinal tract and therefore excreted unchanged via the feces. Feces appeared greenish / yellowish one day after oral administration.