Organs Distribution of Arsenic in Rat Exposed to Low-Level Arsenic through Drinking Water

Objective To study the distribution of arsenic in certain important tissues(liver,kidney,lung,heart,spleen,brain) of rats exposed to low-level arsenic.Methods Thirty-two Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups and were exposed to arsenic through drinking water at the doses of 50,150 and 450 μg/L respectively for four consecutive weeks.The animals were sacrificed four weeks later,and the weight of liver,kidney,lung,heart,spleen and brain were measured,the organ coefficients were calculated and arsenic content in each organ was determined.Results Compared with the control,the body weight in middle-dose group was higher at the end of 2 weeks and the body weight in moderate and high-dose groups was lower at the end of 4 weeks(P0.05).The liver organ coefficient in low and moderate-dose group were significantly higher than that in the control(P0.05).No significant difference was seen in kidney,lung,heart,spleen and brain organ coefficients in different groups.Compared with the control,arsenic level in the heart,liver,lung and brain was higher in moderate and high-dose group.Arsenic level in the kidney and spleen in all three arsenic exposure groups were significantly higher than that in the control group(P0.05).Arsenic contents in certain important tissues increased with arsenic exposure dose.There were significant differences in different organs in the same group,arsenic level in spleen was the highest and arsenic level in brain was the lowest(P0.05).Conclusion Arsenic may accumulate in certain important organs of rats exposed to low-level arsenic,but the organs distribution of arsenic is not the same.