Subchronic Arsenic Exposure Through Drinking Water

Authors: Prashantkumar Waghe Thengumpallil Sasindran Sarath Priyanka Gupta Harikumar Sankaran Kutty Kannan Kandasamy Santosh Kumar Mishra Souvendra Nath Sarkar

Publish Date: 2014/09/11

Volume: 162, Issue: 1-3, Pages: 234-241

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Abstract

We evaluated whether arsenic can alter vascular redox homeostasis and modulate antioxidant status taking rat thoracic aorta as a model vascular tissue In addition we evaluated whether the altered vascular biochemical homeostasis could be associated with alterations in the physical indicators of toxicity development Rats were exposed to arsenic as 25 50 and 100 ppm of sodium arsenite through drinking water for 90 consecutive days Body weight food intake and water consumption were recorded weekly On the 91st day rats were sacrificed vital organs and thoracic aorta were collected Lipid peroxidation reactive oxygen species generation and antioxidants were assessed in the thoracic aorta Arsenic increased aortic lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide generation while decreased reduced glutathione content in a dosedependent manner The activities of the enzymatic antioxidants superoxide dismutase catalase glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase were decreased Further arsenic at 100 ppm decreased feed intake water consumption and body weight from the 11th week onward At this concentration arsenic increased the relative weights of the liver and kidney The results suggest that arsenic causes dosedependent oxidative stress reduction in antioxidative defense systems and body weight loss with alteration in hepatorenal organosomatic indices Overall subchronic arsenic exposure through drinking water causes alteration in vascular redox homeostasis and at high concentration affects physical healthThe authors are grateful to the Department of Biotechnology DBT New Delhi India for providing financial support in conducting the study The fellowship awarded to the first author by the institute is gratefully acknowledged The authors are also thankful to the Director of Indian Veterinary Research Institute for providing necessary facilities

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