Nutritional Manipulation of One-Carbon Metabolism: Effects on Arsenic Methylation and Toxicity
Figure 1
Arsenic metabolism. Arsenic in tubewells in Bangladesh is predominantly arsenite. Arsenic (+3 oxidation state) methyltransferase (AS3MT) catalyzes the oxidative methylation of arsenite using s-adenosylmethionine (SAM) as the methyl donor, forming methylarsonic acid (MMAV), and s-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH). MMAV is reduced to methylarsonous acid (MMAIII) before a subsequent oxidative methylation step yielding dimethylarsinic acid (DMAV) and SAH.
