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The primary purpose of this article is to summarize the recent investigations dealing with the pharmacology and toxicology of meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid, an orally effective chelating agent. The need for a better chelating agent for treating young children and pregnant women with lead intoxication has been apparent for some time. Preclinical and clinical evidence now indicate that meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid, an Orphan Drug, shows the most promise for being effective in this regard. It has an extracellular distribution that may be responsible for its low toxicity compared to other dithiols. No attempt has been made to compare it in a rigorous and thorough manner with other chelating agents. That has not been the purpose of this review. The advantages of meso-DMSA, however, compared to CaNa2EDTA for the treatment of lead intoxication, have been outlined. Significant advances have been made recently in elucidating the structures of the metal chelates of DMSA. There is a striking difference between the structures of the lead chelate of meso-DMSA and those of racemic-DMSA. The former chelates by coordination of one sulfur and one oxygen atom with Pb. The latter can form chelates via the two sulfur atoms or via one oxygen and one sulfur atom. Solubility of the lead chelates depends on the ionization of the noncoordinated thiol and carboxylic acid groups. Bimane derivatization, HPLC, and fluorescence, as well as gas chromatography can be used for analysis of DMSA in biological fluids. The acid dissociation constants for meso- and racemic-DMSA have been summarized from the literature as have the formation constants of some of the DMSA chelates. DMSA is biotransformed to a mixed disulfide in humans. By 14 hr after DMSA administration (10 mg/kg), only 2.5% of the administered DMSA is excreted in the urine as unaltered DMSA and 18.1% of the dose is found in the urine as altered forms of DMSA. Most altered DMSA in the urine is in the form of a mixed disulfide. It consists of DMSA in disulfide linkages with two molecules of L-cysteine. One molecule of cysteine is attached to each of the sulfur atoms of DMSA. The remaining 10% of the altered DMSA was in the form of cyclic disulfides of DMSA. So far, the mixed disulfide has been found in human but not in rabbit, mouse, or rat urine. Apparently there are species differences in how organisms metabolize meso-DMSA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Potential toxicity from exposure to mercury vapor (Hg(o)) from dental amalgam fillings is the subject of current public health debate in many countries. We evaluated potential central nervous system (CNS) toxicity associated with handling Hg-containing amalgam materials among dental personnel with very low levels of Hg(o) exposure (i.e., urinary Hg <4 microg/l), applying a neurobehavioral test battery to evaluate CNS functions in relation to both recent exposure and Hg body burden. New distinctions between subtle preclinical effects on symptoms, mood, motor function, and cognition were found associated with Hg body burden as compared with those associated with recent exposure. The pattern of results, comparable to findings previously reported among subjects with urinary Hg >50 microg/l, presents convincing new evidence of adverse behavioral effects associated with low Hg(o) exposures within the range of that received by the general population.

There is considerable controversy as to whether dental amalgams may cause systemic health effects in humans because they liberate elemental mercury. Most such amalgams contain as much as 50% metallic mercury. To determine the influence of dental amalgams on the mercury body burden of humans, we have given volunteers, with and without amalgams in their mouth, the sodium salt of 2,3-dimercaptopropane-1-sulfonic acid (DMPS), a chelating agent safely used in the Soviet Union and West Germany for a number of years. The diameters of dental amalgams of the subjects were determined to obtain the amalgam score. Administration of 300 mg DMPS by mouth increased the mean urinary mercury excretion of the amalgam group from 0.70 to 17.2 micrograms and that of the nonamalgam group from 0.27 to 5.1 micrograms over a 9-h period. Two-thirds of the mercury excreted in the urine of those with dental amalgams appears to be derived originally from the mercury vapor released from their amalgams. Linear regression analysis indicated a highly significant positive correlation between the mercury excreted in the urine 2 h after DMPS administration and the dental amalgam scores. DMPS can be used to increase the urinary excretion of mercury and thus increase the significance and reliability of this measure of mercury exposure or burden, especially in cases of micromercurialism.

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There have been a number of new and exciting advances in the understanding of arsenic toxicity. Organic trivalent arsenicals have been the drug of choice in the treatment of African trypanosomes, the cause of sleeping sickness. In the past, various mechanisms have been proposed for their mode of action in the treatment of this parasitic disease. It now appears that these arsenicals form an adduct with N1,-N8(glutathionyl)spermidine which inhibits trypanothione disulfide reductase. This enzyme in conjunction with a nonenzymatic reaction is responsible for the maintenance of the required intracellular levels of GSH and perhaps other thiols in African trypanosomes. The primary targets of As3+ in mammalian systems are pyruvate dehydrogenase, thiolase, and glutathione reductase. Even though it appears that pyruvate dehydrogenase is the most sensitive target, the net result of these inhibitions is a decreased gluconeogenesis that should be taken into account when treating arsenic poisoning. Although these advances have been made in the understanding of arsenic toxicity, virtually no progress has been made in understanding the biochemical mechanism of action of arsine, probably the deadliest of all arsenic compounds. This lack of progress is disappointing as well as worrisome since arsine is one of the important starting materials in the newer high tech industries. There have been, however, advances made in the treatment of arsenic toxicity. Meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) and 2,3-dimercaptopropane-l-sulfonic acid are orally effective, dithiol chelating agents useful for treating arsenic poisoning. DMSA is an orphan drug for which a New Drug Application has been filed.