Definition
As contained in water, soil, food, or atmosphere, the primary routes of arsenic entry into the body are ingestion and inhalation. Very little internal exposure to arsenic occurs via the material passing through the skin into the body. After absorption, arsenic is widely distributed by the blood stream throughout the body. Most tissues rapidly clear arsenic, except for skin, hair, and nails. The absorbed As undergoes biomethylation primarily by the liver. Inorganic As in the body is metabolized by the reduction of arsenate (AsIII) to arsenite (AsV), followed by sequential methylation to monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and dimethylarsenic acid (DMA). These methylation reactions have traditionally been regarded as a detoxification mechanism since the methylated metabolites exert less acute toxicity and reactivity with tissue constituents than inorganic As. Approximately 70% of arsenic...
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References
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Chen, SJ., Yan, XJ., Chen, Z. (2013). Arsenic in Tissues, Organs, and Cells. In: Kretsinger, R.H., Uversky, V.N., Permyakov, E.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Metalloproteins. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1533-6_491
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1533-6_491
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