Based on the wide use of cobalt substances in a range of important technologies, it has become important to predict the toxicological properties of new or lesser-studied substances as accurately as possible. We studied a group of 6 cobalt substances with inorganic ligands, which were tested for their bioaccessibility (surrogate measure of bioavailability) through in vitro bioelution in simulated gastric and intestinal fluids. Representatives of the group also underwent in vivo blood kinetics and mass balance tests, and both oral acute and repeated dose toxicity (RDT) testing. We were able to show a good correlation between high in vitro bioaccessibility with high in vivo bioavailability and subsequent high in vivo toxicity; consequently, low in vitro bioaccessibility correlated well with low in vivo bioavailability and low in vivo toxicity. In vitro bioelution in simulated gastric fluid was the most precise predictor of the difference in the oral RDT lowest observed adverse effect levels of 2 compounds representing the highly and poorly bioaccessible subset of substances. The 2 compounds cobalt dichloride hexahydrate and tricobalt tetraoxide differed by a factor of 440 in their in vitro bioaccessibility and by a factor of 310 in their RDT lowest observed adverse effect level. In summary, this set of studies shows that solubility, specifically in vitro bioelution in simulated gastric fluid, is a good, yet conservative, predictor of in vivo bioavailability and oral systemic toxicity of inorganic cobalt substances. Bioelution data are therefore an invaluable tool for grouping and read across of cobalt substances for hazard and risk assessment.
Keywords: 3Rs; bioaccessibility; grouping; inorganics(s); metal(s); read across.
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology.