Arsenic metabolism differs between child and adult patients during acute arsenic poisoning.

Arsenic metabolism differs between child and adult patients during acute arsenic poisoning. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2020 Nov 29;:115352 Authors: Yamauchi H, Takata A Abstract Epidemiological studies on chronic arsenic poisoning have clarified the relationship between various adverse effects and methylation efficiency or methylation capacity. However, no study has similarly investigated such effects on patients with acute arsenic poisoning. In the present work, we studied 61 patients with acute oral arsenic poisoning occurring after consumption of an arsenic trioxide-laced meal (curry soup). The cohort included children (defined as under 15 year old [y/o], n = 22) and adults (over 16 y/o, n = 39) whose urinary arsenic profiles were analyzed. None of these patients had received treatment with chelating agents. The estimated median (IQR) arsenic intake was 64.5 mg (48.3-80.5 mg) in children and 76.0 mg (56.0-91.0 mg) in adults, and these values were not significantly different. Symptoms of poisoning in children improved approximately 1 week after hospitalization. However, the symptoms in most adults deteriorated with severe signs of arsenic poisoning. Urinary arsenic profiles of all the patients were analyzed to obtain the following information: % monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), % dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), second methylation ratio (DMA/MMA), and secondary methylation index (SMI, DMA/MMA + DMA). The levels of thes...
Source: Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology - Category: Toxicology Authors: Tags: Toxicol Appl Pharmacol Source Type: research