What Is The Main Function Of Cobalt In The Human Body?
Cobalt is a hard, gray metal element. It’s part of vitamin B-12. This vitamin is essential for making red blood cells (erythropoiesis). It also maintains the nervous system.
What is the function of cobalt in human body?
Cobalt is a necessary component of vitamin B12 (hydroxocobalamin) and a fundamental coenzyme of cell mitosis. Moreover, cobalt is very important for forming amino acids and some proteins to create myelin sheath in nerve cells [3, 10].
Is cobalt an essential nutrient for humans?
Cobalt is an essential nutrient for prokaryotes, human beings, and other mammals but has not been considered an essential micronutrient for plants.
What is cobalt and why is it important?
Cobalt is an essential mineral used for batteries in electric cars, computers, and cell phones. Demand for cobalt is increasing as more electric cars are sold, particularly in Europe, where governments are encouraging the sales with generous environmental bonuses.
How much cobalt is in the human body?
approximately 1 mg
The adult human body contains approximately 1 mg of cobalt, 85% of which is in the form of vitamin B12. Human dietary intake of cobalt varies between 5 and 50 μg/day, and most of the cobalt ingested by humans is inorganic, vitamin B12 representing only a small fraction.
Why is cobalt essential for life?
Cobalt is a trace element in the Earth system yet plays an important role in life, being the metal center of vitamin B12, which is crucial to various methyltransferase enzymes.
What are the effects of cobalt deficiency?
The common symptoms due to acute cobalt deficiency are paleness, weakness, fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss, and subsequent poor growth, shortness of breath, dizziness, scaly ears and watery discharge from the eyes.
What are two uses of cobalt?
Cobalt is used in many alloys (superalloys for parts in gas turbine aircrafr engines, corrosion resistant alloys, high-speed steels, cemented carbides), in magents and magnetic recording media, as catalysts for the petroleum and chemical industries, as drying agents for paints and inks.
Do humans have cobalt?
Cobalt constitutes 4% by weight of vitamin B-12 (cobalamin), an essential human nutrient. A nutritional requirement for cobalt other than that contained within dietary cobalamin has not been established.
Which disease is caused by deficiency of cobalt?
A disease, known as ovine white liver disease (OWLD) was experimentally reproduced in lambs by feeding a diet depleted of cobalt. At necropsy, affected animals had pale, swollen, friable fatty livers, and showed marked accumulation of lipofuscin.
Does your body produce cobalt?
Cobalt cannot be synthesized by the body and hence must be derived from food.
What part of the body does cobalt affect?
It can harm the eyes, skin, heart, and lungs. Exposure to cobalt may cause cancer. Workers may be harmed from exposure to cobalt and cobalt-containing products. The level of harm depends upon the dose, duration, and work being done.
What does cobalt do to the liver?
High serum cobalt ion concentrations are toxic to the liver, and increase aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), and creatine kinase (CK) levels in mice [15].
What diseases can cobalt cause?
* Cobalt may cause an asthma-like allergy. Future exposure can cause asthma attacks with shortness of breath, wheezing, cough, and/or chest tightness. * Cobalt may affect the heart, thyroid, liver and kidneys. * Repeated exposure to Cobalt dust can cause scarring of the lungs (fibrosis) even if no symptoms are noticed.
Does vitamin B12 have cobalt?
Cobalt is one of the components of vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin.
What food is cobalt in?
Some of the dietary sources that are abundant in cobalt include red meat, milk, fish, cabbage, figs and turnips.
How does cobalt effect the brain?
In summary, cobalt exposure induces alterations in the brain transcriptome, more specifically, the choroid plexus, which is in direct contact with neurotoxicants at the blood–cerebrospinal fluid barrier.
Where is cobalt found in daily life?
On a global basis, the leading use of cobalt is in rechargeable battery electrodes. Superalloys, which are used to make parts for gas turbine engines, are another major use for cobalt.
How long does cobalt stay in the body?
Elevated blood levels of cobalt and chromium ions can persist for at least 1 year after revision, especially in patients with high levels of exposure.
How much cobalt is toxic to humans?
* Exposure to 20 mg/m3 is immediately dangerous to life and health.
What is a toxic level of cobalt in blood?
A cobalt concentration <1.8 μg/L indicates a normal amount of cobalt exposure. A cobalt concentration ≥1.8 μg/L indicates high cobalt exposure and risk of systemic toxicity.
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