• Toxicological Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.161-167
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• 2008

Recently, arsenic-toxicity has become the major focus of strenuous assessment and dynamic research from the academy and regulatory agency. To elucidate the cause and the mechanism underlying the serious adverse health effects from chronic ingestion of arsenic-contaminated drinking water, numerous studies have been directed on the investigation of arsenic-toxicity using various in vitro as well as in vivo systems. Neverthless, some questions for arsenic effects remain unexplained, reflecting the contribution of unknown factors to the manifestation of arsenic-toxicity. Interestingly, very recent studies on arsenic metabolites have discovered that trivalent methylated arsenicals show stronger cytotoxic and genotoxic potentials than inorganic arsenic or pentavalent metabolites, arguing that these metabolites could play a key role in arsenic-associated disorders. In this review, recent progress and literatures are summarized on the metabolism of trivalent methylated metabolites and their toxicity on body systems including cardiovascular system in an effort to provide an insight into the future research on arsenic-associated disorders.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.29
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• pp.18.1-18.9
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• 2014

Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine a separation method for each arsenic metabolite in urine by using a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). Methods Separation of the arsenic metabolites was conducted in urine by using a polymeric anion-exchange (Hamilton PRP X-100, $4.6mm{\times}150mm$, $5{\mu}m$) column on Agilent Technologies 1260 Infinity LC system coupled to Agilent Technologies 7700 series ICP/MS equipment using argon as the plasma gas. Results All five important arsenic metabolites in urine were separated within 16 minutes in the order of arsenobetaine, arsenite, dimethylarsinate, monomethylarsonate and arsenate with detection limits ranging from 0.15 to $0.27{\mu}g/L$ ($40{\mu}L$ injection). We used G-EQUAS No. 52, the German external quality assessment scheme and standard reference material 2669, National Institute of Standard and Technology, to validate our analyses. Conclusions The method for separation of arsenic metabolites in urine was established by using HPLC-ICP-MS. This method contributes to the evaluation of arsenic exposure, health effect assessment and other bio-monitoring studies for arsenic exposure in South Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.402-410
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• 2009

This study was carried out to examine the optimal analytical method for determination of urinary toxic arsenic (inorganic arsenic and its metabolites) by HG-AAS (hydride generation-atomic absorption spectrometry). In the analysis of SRMs (standard reference materials), method E (addition of 0.4% L-cysteine to pre-reductant and use 0.04M HCl as carrier acid) showed the most accurate results compared with the reference values. In the analysis of 30 urinary samples, analytical results were significantly different depend on the component of pre-reductant and the concentration of carrier acid. When the concentration of carrier acid was higher, the analytical result was lower. The recovery rates of MMA (monomethylarsonic acid) and DMA (dimethylarsenic acid) were varied by the concentration of pre-treatment acid and carrier acid and hydride generation reagents. When the concentration of carrier acid was 1.62 M (5% HCl), the recovery rates of DMA was 1%. The recovery rates of MMA and DMA in method E (=V) were 102% and 100%, respectively. The results of this study suggest that the component and concentration of pre-reductant and carrier acid must be carefully adjusted in the analysis of urinary arsenic, and method E is recommendable as the most precise analytical method for determination of urinary toxic arsenic.