Imaging of the peri-glomerular accumulation of As and Cu in rat kidney after chronic arsenic exposure by SR-ìXRF

BONGIOVANNI, GUILLERMINA A.; PEREZ, CARLOS A; RUBIO, MARCELO; PEREZ, ROBERTO D

Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro,

Conferencia; XI Latin American Seminary of Analysis by X-Ray Techniques; 2008

Society of Analysis by X-Ray Techniques

Arsenic (As) is important toxicant in the environment. Inorganic arsenic exposure in humans is causally associated with development of malignancies in various tissues, including the skin, liver, urinary bladder, lung and kidney  [1]. Many heavy metals accumulate in the kidney, and chronic toxic metal exposure leads to injury to the kidney´s glomerular filtration barrier. An additional accumulation of any other trace metals, even essential ones, may therefore be critical for that organ. Oral administration of inorganic arsenic has been shown to lead to an accumulation of arsenic, copper and Zn in the renal cortex of rats  [2]. Because histological distribution of these elements has not been well characterized, the present study was designed to analyze the tissue distributions for As, Fe, Cu and Zn in kidney of male Wistar rat exposed to As. The animals received drinking water containing 100ppm of sodium arsenite (control without As) ad libitum for 60 days. Then, renal cortical slices were prepared from control and treated rats and were scanned with a collimated white synchrotron spectrum (30 ƒÊm x 30 ƒÊm) and X-ray fluorescence was measured. The results indicate a peri-glomerular accumulation of As and Cu (Fig. 1). The deleterious effects of arsenic may also be seen by decreased BowmanLs space. The SR-ƒÊXRF technique used to study the distribution of elements in kidney cortex of rats treated with As allowed to discriminate between different histological structures.