Total and main as species present in cardiovascular tirrues of people living in as contaminated areas

Abstract

The concentration levels of As in the Chilean II Region of Antofagasta produces non cancer health outcomes such as cardiovascular diseases and in last term heart attack. On this study, the determination of total As content and main inorganic and organoarsenic species found in three heart tissues (auricle, mammary artery and fat) and the saphene vein of people living in the Chilean II Region, suffering coronary thrombosis has been carried out. Comparison with similar tissues of patients from other non-contaminated areas has been undertaken. The extraction of As species occurred in methanol: water (1:1) and As species determination have been used the tandem HPLC-ICP-MS using the Hamilton PRP X100 anion column. For total As determination has been performed by HG-AAS and ICP-MS. The auricle and in less extend the saphene support the higher As concentration (mean values of 7.7 and 2.5 µg g-1, respectively), being As(III) the predominant species. Methylarsonate (MA) and dimethylarsinate (DMA) is not a favoured mechanism. The presence of high total As and high As(III) species content in the auricle and saphene of more contaminated people, the damage found in the saphene tissue and the global characteristics of the people under study in which the As stigmas are present in all of them, suggests that As could be involved in the cardiovascular diseases. e-mail: ipizarro @uantof.cl I