Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of curcumin on epididymal sperm parameters in adult male Navel Medical Research Institute (NMRI) mice exposed to sodium arsenite. MaterialsAndMethods In this experimental study, we divided the animals into four groups: control, sodium arsenite (5 mg/kg), curcumin (100 mg/kg) and curcumin+sodium arsenite. Exposures were performed by ...

Here we describe, for the first time, that budding yeast mitogen-activated protein kinase Hog1 and its upstream activators Pbs2 and Ssk1 are essential for the response to arsenite. Hog1 is rapidly phosphorylated in response to arsenite and triggers a transcriptional response that involves the upregulation of genes essential for arsenite detoxification.

An arsenite-oxidizing Hydrogenobaculum strain was isolated from a geothermal spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyo., that was previously shown to contain microbial populations engaged in arsenite oxidation. The isolate was sensitive to both arsenite and arsenate and behaved as an obligate chemolithoautotroph that used H(2) as its sole energy source and had an optimum temperature of 55 to 60 ...

Several epidemiological studies have suggested that exposure to arsenic is strongly correlated with the development of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension. To determine whether arsenic affects vasomotor tone in blood vessels, we investigated the effect of arsenic on vasorelaxation using isolated rat aortic rings in an organ-bath system. Treatment with arsenite inhibited acetylcholine-i...

Many plant species are able to reduce arsenate to arsenite efficiently, which is an important step allowing detoxification of As through either efflux of arsenite or complexation with thiol compounds. It has been suggested that this reduction is catalyzed by ACR2, a plant homologue of the yeast arsenate reductase ScACR2. Silencing of AtACR2 was reported to result in As hyperaccumulation in the ...

Primary cultures of rat cerebellar neurons were used to study mechanisms of arsenic neurotoxicity. Exposure to 5, 10, or 15 microM sodium arsenite reduced cerebellar neuron viability and induced nuclear fragmentation and condensation as well as DNA degradation to oligonucleosome fragments. Exposure to 1 or 5 mM dimethylarsinic acid caused similar changes. Therefore, both inorganic arsenite and ...

When cultured human keratinocytes reach confluence, they undergo a program of changes replicating features of differentiation in vivo, including exit from the proliferative pool, increased cell size, and expression of specialized differentiation marker proteins. Previously, we showed that insulin is required for some of these steps and that arsenite, a human carcinogen in skin and other epithel...

Arsenic (As) is an element that is nonessential for and toxic to plants. Arsenic contamination in the environment occurs in many regions, and, depending on environmental factors, its accumulation in food crops may pose a health risk to humans.Recent progress in understanding the mechanisms of As uptake and metabolism in plants is reviewed here. Arsenate is taken up by phosphate transporters. A ...

BACKGROUND Inorganic arsenic species are potent environmental toxins and causes of numerous health problems. Most studies have assumed that arsenic-induced changes in mRNA levels result from effects on gene transcription. OBJECTIVES We evaluated the prevalence of changes in mRNA stability in response to sodium arsenite in human fibroblasts. METHODS We used microarray analyses to determine c...

The arsenic (As) drinking water crisis in south and south-east Asia has stimulated intense study of the microbial processes controlling the redox cycling of As in soil-water systems. Microbial oxidation of arsenite is a critical link in the global As cycle, and phylogenetically diverse arsenite-oxidizing microorganisms have been isolated from various aquatic and soil environments. However, desp...