3 ms·

Would my body absorbing this metal be detrimental to my health in other ways?

BelleOfTheBall 4y ago
I imagine a tiny amount would be okay, based on the scientists' reactions. However, I wonder if chronic use of this, which is how it'd be for diabetics, would actually lead to bad consequences. Perhaps the material is specifically tailored to be not just prone to absorption but also neutral/positive when processed by the body?
gpm 4y ago
There's a lot of medical technology that involves sticking metal inside of people permanently, as long as they're making it out of the right kind of metal it's hard to believe it would be an issue to stick it on your skin.
- capitainenemo 4y ago
  The article notes it doesn't just sit on your skin, but is designed to break down and be absorbed as the wound heals. So the amount of metal is a legit concern.
- doubled112 4y ago
  And they always get it right, like cobalt in hip replacements.
- dharmab 4y ago
  I once dissected a titanium knee replacement that had been implanted in a human. The surrounding tissue was steel-grey from metallosis.
  - yamazakiwi 4y ago
    My mother had a metal mesh implant for a knee injury in the 70's and later had to have it extracted and her entire knee replaced.
  - pengaru 4y ago
    Isn't that a unique property of titanium and part of why it's chosen for skeletal implants? When a buddy got a damaged tooth replaced with an implant, he showed me medical scans of the titanium rod in-situ with the surrounding bone highlighted as growing into the rod as if they had an affinity for one another. It was part of a document explaining the safety and why titanium was chosen, how the body doesn't reject the material as foreign etc.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- lapetitejort 4y ago
  I have metal in my body planted without my consent via an explosive device and the doctors don't care to take it out. The risk of infection outweighs the risk of it staying in my body.
  - thrill 4y ago
    A tip of the hat to those with special medical letters for airport security scans.
pacaro 4y ago
AFAICT recommended max daily dose of molybdenum is 2mg per day. Above that it starts to get pretty nasty
amalcon 4y ago
There are a lot of metals in your diet. Iron and sodium are most famous, but others are present too. You need a little of most of them, but too much can be toxic. Probably there's a lot in this thing; it's not clear from the article if it's enough to cause a problem.
hammock 4y ago
Acute toxicity of molybdenum (Mo), the metal in question, has not been seen in humans, and the toxicity depends strongly on the chemical state. Studies on rats show a median lethal dose (LD50) as low as 180 mg/kg for some Mo compounds. Although human toxicity data is unavailable, animal studies have shown that chronic ingestion of more than 10 mg/day of molybdenum can cause diarrhea, growth retardation, infertility, low birth weight, and gout; it can also affect the lungs, kidneys, and liver
- moffkalast 4y ago
  I'm no doctor, but that does sound rather unpleasant.
- Someone 4y ago
  180mg/kg is 10 grams for a 55 kg (=fairly lightweight) human. Also, 10mg/day in which animals? I would guess animals that are a lot smaller than humans, possibly even mice (weight: less than 1/1000 of that of a human)
jws 4y ago
The study, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ade4687 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ade4687 suggests in figure 1 that the device is 0.5mg of molybdenum and dissolves over an 18 day period, ~30µg/day. This is less than your recommended dietary allowance of 45µg/day and about two orders of magnitude under the tolerable upper intake level. You will also find in the study analysis of what compounds the molybdenum forms as it dissolves. Also, who knew they were supposed to be getting molybdenum every day? Somehow I feel a bit more cyborgy now, like maybe there is a tiny gear in me somewhere that needs to be greased.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- iLoveOncall 4y ago
  There's a very big difference between ingesting products and having them absorbed in your body differently.
  - willy_k 4y ago
    Depending on the product, sure. However, metals aren’t (as far as I know, there are probably exceptions) metabolized by the GI system, apart from being absorbed in to the bloodstream which would be equivalent to this. I have no idea how it could interact with surrounding tissue, that might be an issue but probably pretty unlikely.
    - manmal 4y ago
      There are transporter proteins for metals, eg Ceruloplasmin for copper and iron. I don’t know about molybdenum though, and think that tissue accumulation should at least be considered here.

I imagine a tiny amount would be okay, based on the scientists' reactions. However, I wonder if chronic use of this, which is how it'd be for diabetics, would actually lead to bad consequences. Perhaps the material is specifically tailored to be not just prone to absorption but also neutral/positive when processed by the body?

gpm 4y ago

There's a lot of medical technology that involves sticking metal inside of people permanently, as long as they're making it out of the right kind of metal it's hard to believe it would be an issue to stick it on your skin.

capitainenemo 4y ago
The article notes it doesn't just sit on your skin, but is designed to break down and be absorbed as the wound heals. So the amount of metal is a legit concern.
doubled112 4y ago
And they always get it right, like cobalt in hip replacements.
dharmab 4y ago
I once dissected a titanium knee replacement that had been implanted in a human. The surrounding tissue was steel-grey from metallosis.
- yamazakiwi 4y ago
  My mother had a metal mesh implant for a knee injury in the 70's and later had to have it extracted and her entire knee replaced.
- pengaru 4y ago
  Isn't that a unique property of titanium and part of why it's chosen for skeletal implants? When a buddy got a damaged tooth replaced with an implant, he showed me medical scans of the titanium rod in-situ with the surrounding bone highlighted as growing into the rod as if they had an affinity for one another. It was part of a document explaining the safety and why titanium was chosen, how the body doesn't reject the material as foreign etc.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
lapetitejort 4y ago
I have metal in my body planted without my consent via an explosive device and the doctors don't care to take it out. The risk of infection outweighs the risk of it staying in my body.
- thrill 4y ago
  A tip of the hat to those with special medical letters for airport security scans.

pacaro 4y ago

AFAICT recommended max daily dose of molybdenum is 2mg per day. Above that it starts to get pretty nasty

amalcon 4y ago

There are a lot of metals in your diet. Iron and sodium are most famous, but others are present too. You need a little of most of them, but too much can be toxic. Probably there's a lot in this thing; it's not clear from the article if it's enough to cause a problem.

hammock 4y ago

Acute toxicity of molybdenum (Mo), the metal in question, has not been seen in humans, and the toxicity depends strongly on the chemical state. Studies on rats show a median lethal dose (LD50) as low as 180 mg/kg for some Mo compounds. Although human toxicity data is unavailable, animal studies have shown that chronic ingestion of more than 10 mg/day of molybdenum can cause diarrhea, growth retardation, infertility, low birth weight, and gout; it can also affect the lungs, kidneys, and liver

moffkalast 4y ago
I'm no doctor, but that does sound rather unpleasant.
Someone 4y ago
180mg/kg is 10 grams for a 55 kg (=fairly lightweight) human. Also, 10mg/day in which animals? I would guess animals that are a lot smaller than humans, possibly even mice (weight: less than 1/1000 of that of a human)

jws 4y ago

The study, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ade4687 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ade4687 suggests in figure 1 that the device is 0.5mg of molybdenum and dissolves over an 18 day period, ~30µg/day. This is less than your recommended dietary allowance of 45µg/day and about two orders of magnitude under the tolerable upper intake level. You will also find in the study analysis of what compounds the molybdenum forms as it dissolves. Also, who knew they were supposed to be getting molybdenum every day? Somehow I feel a bit more cyborgy now, like maybe there is a tiny gear in me somewhere that needs to be greased.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
iLoveOncall 4y ago
There's a very big difference between ingesting products and having them absorbed in your body differently.
- willy_k 4y ago
  Depending on the product, sure. However, metals aren’t (as far as I know, there are probably exceptions) metabolized by the GI system, apart from being absorbed in to the bloodstream which would be equivalent to this. I have no idea how it could interact with surrounding tissue, that might be an issue but probably pretty unlikely.
  - manmal 4y ago
    There are transporter proteins for metals, eg Ceruloplasmin for copper and iron. I don’t know about molybdenum though, and think that tissue accumulation should at least be considered here.