海洋生物由来有機ヒ素化合物のマクロファージに及ぼす影響

抄録

In the present study, we demonstrated the immunotoxic effects of organic arsenic compounds in marine animals, such as arsenosugar (AsSug) , arsenocholine (AsCho), arsenobetaine (AsBe) and tetramethylarsonium ion (TetMA) on murine principal immune effector cells, peritoneal macrophages (PMs) and alveolar macrophages (AMs) , comparing with the effects of inorganic arsenical, arsenite, in vitro.

Arsenite was strongly and equally toxic for both PMs and AMs, and the concentration of arsenite that decreased the number of surviving cells to 50% of that in untreated controls (IC₅₀) was 5 μM. Dimethyl arsenic compound in seaweed, AsSug, was weakly but significantly toxic only for AMs (IC₅₀ =8mM) and it actually enhanced viability of PMs to 1.5 times the control. In contrast, trimethyl and tetramethyl arsenic compounds in marine animals, AsCho, AsBe and TetMA, was less toxic even at the concentration over 10mM on both PMs and AMs.