Effects of arsenic cell metabolism and cell proliferation: cytogenetic and biochemical studies

Chromosome analysis of lymphocytes from patients who had been exposed to arsenic showed frequent structural and numerical aberrations, even with an interval of decades since the last exposure. The in vitro addition of sodium arsenate induced the same chromosome changes--even to extreme of chromosome pulverizations--upon lymphocyte cultures from healthy subjects. Radioactive incorporation studies showed that arsenate was able to inhibit dose-dependently the incorporation of radioactively labeled nucleotide in RNA and DNA. Beyond that, arsenic blocked the cells in the S- and G2-phase. A general explanation for the inhibitory effect of inorganic arsenic on cell metabolism is the known strong affinity of arsenic to enzymes, especially to those containing sulfhydryl groups.