Speciation of arsenic metabolites in the free-living mouse Mus spretus from Doñana National Park used as a bio-indicator for environmental pollution monitoring

Abstract

A speciation approach based on orthogonal chromatographic systems coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to characterise the biological response of free-living mice Mus spretus to environmental pollution caused by arsenic in different areas of the Doñana National Park (south-west Spain). The relative presence of inorganic and organic forms of arsenic was studied in cytosolic extracts from high metabolic activity organs of Mus spretus mice: kidneys, liver, and brain. An instrumental coupling of size-exclusion chromatography with UV and collision/reaction cell-ICP-MS detectors (SEC-UV-ICP-ORC-MS) both in analytical and preparative scale was used for this purpose. The results showed the presence of low molecular mass (LMM) molecules linked to arsenic in these tissues especially in the kidneys, where the presence of these arsenic metabolites was higher. On the other hand, the presence of these arsenicals varied from one area to the other, which can be related to a different occurrence of contaminants. These low molecular mass fractions were collected by preparative SEC chromatography for later study with ion exchange chromatography and detection by ICP-ORC-MS, using both anionic and cationic columns. The results showed the higher presence of MMA and DMA in kidneys of mice caught in contaminated areas and the existence of small amounts of unidentified arsenicals when cation-exchange chromatography was used, which could be related to the presence of dimethylarsinoylethanol (DMAE), thioarsenic species, or arsenocholine (AsC).

Omics technologies and their applications to evaluate metal toxicity in mice M. spretus as a bioindicator

“…The park is an important bird sanctuary, each year receiving several millions of migrating birds from Africa, particularly at its core, the Doñana Biological Reserve (RB) [17]. Nevertheless, this area suffers from contamination threats caused by adjacent agricultural, mining and industrial activities responsible for the presence of metal species in the surroundings [4,10,[18][19][20]. In 1998, a part of a 360 ha tailings dam of Aznalcollar pyrite mine, located 60 km north of DNP, collapsed and released to Guadiamar stream, a tributary of Guadalquivir River, four cubic hectometres of acidic water and two cubic hectometres of mud.…”

“…9. Workflow of metallomic approach for mice exposed to metals Additionally, the high presence of arsenic in the surrounding of DNP has been checked [19], and speciation of this element in plasma from free-living mice shows the presence of iAs(III) but especially DMA in contaminated areas, such as MAT and ROC (Fig. 2).…”

Atomic spectrometry update. Elemental speciation review

“…Several research groups have used mice as potential bioindicators for environmental pollution, such as the free-living mouse Mus spretus found in different areas of the Doana National Park in SW Spain. 115 An instrumental coupling of SEC-UV-ICP-MS was used in both analytical and preparative scale to identify the As species in cytosolic extracts from high metabolic activity organs kidneys, liver, and brain. The results showed a higher presence of MMA and DMA in kidneys of mice caught in contaminated areas and the existence of small amounts of unidentied arsenicals when CEC was used, which could be related to the presence of dimethylarsinoylethanol (DMAE), thioarsenic species, or AC.…”

A miniaturized cryogenic trap design for collection of arsanes

“…Arsenic determination plays an important role in the analysis of environmental samples [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Metabolism studies of arsenic are widely performed [11][12][13][14][15][16] as well as toxicity studies of arsenic species [17][18][19].…”