The Effects of Arsenic Exposure on Neurological and Cognitive Dysfunction in Human and Rodent Studies: A Review

Abstract

Arsenic toxicity is a worldwide health concern as several millions of people are exposed to this toxicant via drinking water, and exposure affects almost every organ system in the body including the brain. Recent studies have shown that even low concentrations of arsenic impair neurological function, particularly in children. This review will focus on the current epidemiological evidence of arsenic neurotoxicity in children and adults, with emphasis on cognitive dysfunction, including learning and memory deficits and mood disorders. We provide a cohesive synthesis of the animal studies that have focused on neural mechanisms of dysfunction after arsenic exposure including altered epigenetics; hippocampal function; glucocorticoid and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) pathway signaling; glutamatergic, cholinergic and monoaminergic signaling; adult neurogenesis; and increased Alzheimer’s-associated pathologies. Finally, we briefly discuss new studies focusing on therapeutic strategies to combat arsenic toxicity including the use of selenium and zinc.

Melatonin Ameliorates Arsenite-Induced Neurotoxicity: Involvement of Autophagy and Mitochondria

“…Arsenic is a chemical element in our living environment; however, overexposure of arsenics by contaminated food and water is known to induce systemic damage, including the peripheral and central nervous systems (CNS) [1][2][3][4][5]. An oxidative mechanism is reportedly involved in the arsenite-induced neurotoxicity [5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

WITHDRAWN: Use status and metabolism of realgar in Chinese patent medicine

“…Chronic arsenic exposure can induce various health hazards, including skin lesions (Seow et al, 2012;Sun, 2004), cancers (Bhattacharjee et al, 2013), cardiovascular diseases (Navas-Acien et al, 2005;Yoshida et al, 2004), hypertension (Abhyankar et al, 2012), diabetes (Pan et al, 2013) as well as cognitive impairment (Tyler and Allan, 2014). Humans are generally exposed to inorganic arsenic (iAs) through air (Lubin et al, 2008), food (Cascio et al, 2011) or water (Kim et al, 2011).…”

Immunotoxic and Genotoxic Effects of Arsenic and Ameliorative Potential of Quercetin and Probiotics in Wistar Rat

“…Increased kidney weight could result from the methylation of As that was reabsorbed from the renal proximal tubules before it could be excreted in the urine [26]. The liver is known to concentrate As following exposure and play an important role in the metabolism of As, which may induce liver damage, thus identifying this organ as a target for As toxicity [27]. However, the increase seen in brain weight was due to the ability of small amounts of toxic metals that pass through capillaries and cross the blood-brain barrier causing neurotoxicity and edema [28].…”