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THE POTENTIAL EFFECT OF AMBIENT ARSENIC IN DRINKING WATER ON ODOR IDENTIFICATION IN AN AGRICULTURAL SAMPLE IN INNER MONGOLIA
Citation:
PRAH, J. D., J. S. MUMFORD, Y. LI, Y. XIA, F. ZHANG, Y. LIU, AND C. X. LE. THE POTENTIAL EFFECT OF AMBIENT ARSENIC IN DRINKING WATER ON ODOR IDENTIFICATION IN AN AGRICULTURAL SAMPLE IN INNER MONGOLIA. Presented at Association of Chemoreception Sciences meeting, Sarasota, FL, April 26 - 30, 2006.
Description:
There is some evidence that chronic exposure to arsenic (As) can have neuropathic and neurosensory effects in humans. It is unknown if As exposure affects the sense of smell. To determine if the ability to identify odors is impaired by chronic As exposure via drinking water, 155 female and 153 male subjects in Inner Mongolia were given the Brief Smell Identification Test (BSIT) - a standardized scratch and sniff test. The mean BSIT score was 7.398. The age range was 11 to 61 (female) and 10 to 60 (male). These subjects were primarily farmers whose main source of drinking water is well water. The mean inorganic As concentration in their drinking water was 126.0 ¿g/L(range 0.34 to 825.7, SD = 153.1). In contrast the current drinking water standard in the United States is 10 ¿g/L. This resulted in mean urinary concentrations As2O3, As2O5, dimethylarsinic acid V (DMAV), and monomethylarsonic acid V (MMAV) of 53.75, 5.8, 201, and 53.4 ¿g/L , respectively. Regression analyses of the BSIT score vs. arsenic species indicates that there is a significant relationship between urinary concentration of As species and odor identification. The p-values for the various species are as follows: As2O3 - p = 0.007; As2O5 p = 0.139; MMAV p = 0.016; DMAV p = 0.017. Interestingly, the regression with As in water was not significant (p=0.237). This implies that body burden is a better predictor of toxic effect than water concentration. It is possible that there is variability of quantity of water consumed which would reduce the total dose or that some persons metabolize inorganic As into possibly more toxic methylated species. The mechanism of the putative toxicity of As may reside in its chemotherapeutic usage. As2O3 is used in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia and its efficacy is thought act by causing incomplete cytodifferentiation and subsequently inducing apoptosis. Neurogenesis of olfactory receptor cells may be similarly impaired by As compounds.