ANTIMONY INDUCED GLUTATHIONE EFFLUX FROM HUMAN ERYTHROCTES

Antimony is a trace element which has wide variety of industrial application. Antimony has recently been considered as an environmental pollutant. Among the inorganic forms, SbIII is the more toxic form. SbIII is ten times more toxic compared to the SbV. Consuming plants that are grown in antimony contaminated soil is one of the way by which humans are exposed to antimony. AsIII and SbIII forms strong bonds with free-SH groups. When SbIII or SbV interacts with proteins that contain free-SH groups, protein inactivation usually results in. Antimony may also result in free radical generation and induction of oxidative stress. Even though antimony has some applications in health as a drug, its biological effects have not been investigated in detail. In the present study we investigated the effects of SbIII on glutathione efflux in human erythrocytes. The effects of N-acetyl-L-cysteine on antimony induced glutathione oxidation and glutathione efflux were also investigated. Extracellular glutathione concentration significantly increased and reached to 0.033 +/- 0.0034 micromole/ml erythrocyte with 1 mM of potassium antimony tartrate in four hours. The control value of extracellular glutathione was 0.020 +/- 0.0035 micromole/ml erythrocyte. Our results show that SbIII treatment of erythrocyte results in glutathione efflux.