Maria de Lourdes Pereira
University of Aveiro, Portugal
Biography
Maria de Lourdes Pereira has received her PhD in Biology (Animal Cytology) from the University of Aveiro in 1991. Her teaching activities included basically Cytology and Histology, Cell Biology, Molecular & Cell Biology and Biopathology. She was President of the Portuguese Society of Electron Microscopy and Cell Biology (2004) and Director of the Master on Molecular and Cell Biology at University of Aveiro (2008-2018). Her research has been focused on the adverse effects of heavy metals, nanoparticles, and pesticides on rodents, merging histological, cell biology, and ultrastructural methodologies. She has co-authored several book chapters and research papers in international journals and has been serving as Organizing Committee Member of International Conferences, and Editorial Board Member of some journals, acting also as Referee.
Abstract
Chromium, as Cr (III) has been considered in the last 50 years an essential micronutrient, being associated to lipid and carbohydrate metabolisms. Nutritional chromium supplements, namely Cr(III)-tris-picolinate, has attained an astonishing world consumption. Considering the health benefits against negative consequences of its utilization, the scientific community has been discussing this issue in a forum of divergent opinions. Now the questions are: Is there any strong evidence for the essentially and a specific role for chromium? What are the points of evidence for the safety of Cr (III) species? Which are its deleterious effects? Is Cr (III)-tris-picolinate supplementation needed or useful? Although latest evidences dismissed chromium as an essential trace element, its pharmacological benefits/relevance is important on insulin and cholesterol levels. Due to controversial reports for the chromium essentiality, new evidences on its true biological role are emerging, now classifying it as a second messenger in diabetes therapy. A clear inter-correlation between the chromium benefits in rodent models and in man is yet scarce. New approaches to the chromium biological role will be presented and discussed.