Mutagenesis vol. 19 no. 3 pp. 223-229,
May 2004
© 2004 UK Environmental Mutagen Society/Oxford University Press
Effect of sodium arsenite on peripheral lymphocytes in vitro: individual susceptibility among a population exposed to arsenic through the drinking water
1Division of Human Genetics and Genomics, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4 Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata-700032, India, 2Department of Dermatology, School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata-700073, India, 3Department of ToxicoGenetics, Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands and 4University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
Arsenic (As) contamination in ground water has affected more than 19 countries. Approximately 36 million people in the Bengal delta alone are exposed to this toxicant via drinking water (>50 µg/l) and are at potential health risk. Chronic ingestion of As via drinking water is associated with occurrence of skin lesions, cancer and other arsenic-induced diseases in West Bengal, India. An in vitro cytogenetic study was performed utilizing chromosomal aberrations (CA) in lymphocytes treated with sodium arsenite (0–5 µM) in six symptomatic (having arsenic-related skin lesions) individuals, six age- and sex-matched As-exposed asymptomatic (no arsenic-related skin lesions) individuals and six control individuals with similar socio-economic status residing in non-affected districts of West Bengal with no evidence of As exposure. The mean As content in nails and hair was 9.61 and 5.23 µg/g in symptomatic, 3.48 and 2.17 µg/g in asymptomatic and 0.42 and 0.33 µg/g in the control individuals, respectively. The main aim of our study was to determine whether genotoxic effects differed in the lymphocytes of the control (no exposure to arsenic), asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals after in vitro treatment with sodium arsenite. Although both the exposed groups had chronic exposure to As through the drinking water, individuals with skin lesions accumulated more As in their nails and hair and excreted less in urine (127.80 versus 164.15 µg/l). The results show that sodium arsenite induced a significantly higher percentage of aberrant cells in the lymphocytes of control individuals than in the lymphocytes of both the exposed groups. Within the two exposed groups As induced higher incidences of CA in the symptomatic than the asymptomatic individuals. These results suggest that asymptomatic individuals have relatively lower sensitivity and susceptibility to induction of genetic damage by As compared with the symptomatic individuals.
5To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +91 33 2473 0492; Fax: +91 33 2473 5197; Email: akgiri15{at}yahoo.com
Received on October 20, 2003; revised and; accepted on February 16, 2004
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  H. K. Wong, M. Fricker, A. Wyttenbach, A. Villunger, E. M. Michalak, A. Strasser, and A. M. Tolkovsky Mutually Exclusive Subsets of BH3-Only Proteins Are Activated by the p53 and c-Jun N-Terminal Kinase/c-Jun Signaling Pathways during Cortical Neuron Apoptosis Induced by Arsenite Mol. Cell. Biol., October 1, 2005; 25(19): 8732 - 8747. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|