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Effects of arsenic methylation and metabolism on the changes of arsenic-related skin lesions

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Abstract

Little was known about the arsenic metabolism and arsenic methylation associated with the changes of skin lesions after reducing the arsenic in drinking water (WAs). Therefore, urinary concentrations and proportions of arsenic species were determined for recovery (RC), improvement (IC), persistent (PE), aggravation (AC), new incidence (NC), and no sign (HC) groups based on the changes of skin lesions between before (in 2004) and after (in 2017) WAs reduction. The results indicate that the urinary concentrations of inorganic arsenic (iAs), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), and total arsenic (TAs) were much higher for RC and IC groups than for the other groups in 2004, while these values varied slightly among the groups in 2017. The urinary %iAs of all the groups was significantly decreased after WAs reduction. In contrast, the urinary %DMA of RC, IC, AC, and NC groups was increased. From 2004 to 2017, the PE and HC groups had lower decrease rate of %iAs and %MMA, and increase rate of %DMA, primary methylation index (PMI), and secondary methylation index (SMI) after WAs reduction. The adjusted odd ratios (ORs) showed that the RC, IC, AC, and NC groups were positively related with %iAs and %MMA and were negatively correlated with %DMA, PMI, and SMI before WAs reduction. It can be concluded that higher urinary %iAs and %MMA before WAs reduction increased the probability of skin lesions recovery and improvement, and the risks of skin lesions aggravation and incidence. Higher increase rate of urinary %DMA was positively associated with of skin lesions recovery and improvement. Moreover, higher urinary %iAs and %MMA or lower increase rate of urinary %DMA might increase the risk of skin lesions aggravation.

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Funding

The work described in this paper was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41601559) and the State Key Program of National Natural Science of China (Grant No. 41230749).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11 A Datun Road, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Binggan Wei, Jiangping Yu, Chang Kong, Hairong Li & Linsheng Yang

  2. College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Chang Kong, Hairong Li & Linsheng Yang

  3. Inner Mongolia Center for Comprehensive Disease Control and Prevention, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, People’s Republic of China

    Yajuan Xia & Kegong Wu

Authors
  1. Binggan Wei
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  2. Jiangping Yu
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  3. Chang Kong
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  4. Hairong Li
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  5. Linsheng Yang
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  6. Yajuan Xia
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  7. Kegong Wu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hairong Li or Linsheng Yang.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Wei, B., Yu, J., Kong, C. et al. Effects of arsenic methylation and metabolism on the changes of arsenic-related skin lesions. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 24394–24402 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2512-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2512-2

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