RESUMO
A genotoxic potentiality to stannous salts has been reported. The relevance of these data is due to the wide application of this metal in our society. The biological effect of these salts might depend on the physicochemical conditions and the route of their administration. There are situations in which stannous salts can be directly administered to human beings endovenously and there is not doubt about their absorption into the body. The disparate and largely unexplained differences suggest that stannous salts as a simple poisoning and/or a remarkable genotoxic agent might be a fertile field for additional investigation. Reactive oxygen species scavengers and metal ion chelators can abolish, at least in part, the effect of stannous salts. This suggests that the generation of free radicals by the reducing agent is involved in the biological effect induced by this metal.