Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology 28 (2014) 105
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology journal homepage: www.elsevier.de/jtemb
Editorial
Organometallic compounds in medicine and biology
In contrast to many essential trace elements, organometallic species of certain metals show mainly toxic effects to organisms even at trace levels. The present special issue is dedicated to organometal(oid)s highlighting the toxic properties as well as the analytic-chemical challenges of selected species from three toxicological important metals: manganese, mercury and arsenic. Well known experts in this field contributed to this special issue with five scientific articles. In a review article, Bernhard Michalke and Katharina Fernsebner give new insights into manganese toxicity and speciation with an overview on manganese exposure to humans, molecular mechanisms of manganese neurotoxicity and challenges of manganese speciation. In a second review paper, Michael Aschner and coworkers focus on neurobehavioral alterations caused by methylmercury in an animal model including the discussion of possible molecular mechanisms. Another organomercury compound, ethylmercury, can be formed by decomposition of the drug additive thimerosal and is supposed to show neurotoxic effects. Michael Sperling, Uwe Karst and collaborators contributed an in vitro study on the behavior and binding partners of thimerosal in human blood using high-level analytical instrumentation such as couplings of chromatography to element and molecular mass
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtemb.2014.03.007 0946-672X/© 2014 Published by Elsevier GmbH.
spectrometry. It is well known that the toxicity of arsenic depends on the chemical form of this element. For recent years, arsenolipids came to the focus of toxicological assessment. Kenneth Amayo, from the group of Jörg Feldmann and Eva Krupp, employed a split coupling of reversed-phase liquid chromatography in parallel to high resolution element and molecular mass spectrometry for the identification of arsenolipid compounds in different commercial fish species. Arsenic species are also in the focus of research paper of the group of Tanja Schwerdtle. They describe a toxicological study of the sulfur containing human metabolite thio-dimethylarsenic acid in human bladder cells. New insight to the toxic mode of action of this metabolite was gained revealing for the first time effects on the cellular DNA damage response. We thank all authors for their valuable contributions to this first thematic special issue of the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology. We hope that our readers will appreciate this selection of review and research papers on organometal(oid)s and that they will be inspired for their own research in this important and fascinating scientific field. Tanja Schwerdtle Dirk Schaumlöffel
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology journal homepage: www.elsevier.de/jtemb
Editorial
Organometallic compounds in medicine and biology
In contrast to many essential trace elements, organometallic species of certain metals show mainly toxic effects to organisms even at trace levels. The present special issue is dedicated to organometal(oid)s highlighting the toxic properties as well as the analytic-chemical challenges of selected species from three toxicological important metals: manganese, mercury and arsenic. Well known experts in this field contributed to this special issue with five scientific articles. In a review article, Bernhard Michalke and Katharina Fernsebner give new insights into manganese toxicity and speciation with an overview on manganese exposure to humans, molecular mechanisms of manganese neurotoxicity and challenges of manganese speciation. In a second review paper, Michael Aschner and coworkers focus on neurobehavioral alterations caused by methylmercury in an animal model including the discussion of possible molecular mechanisms. Another organomercury compound, ethylmercury, can be formed by decomposition of the drug additive thimerosal and is supposed to show neurotoxic effects. Michael Sperling, Uwe Karst and collaborators contributed an in vitro study on the behavior and binding partners of thimerosal in human blood using high-level analytical instrumentation such as couplings of chromatography to element and molecular mass
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtemb.2014.03.007 0946-672X/© 2014 Published by Elsevier GmbH.
spectrometry. It is well known that the toxicity of arsenic depends on the chemical form of this element. For recent years, arsenolipids came to the focus of toxicological assessment. Kenneth Amayo, from the group of Jörg Feldmann and Eva Krupp, employed a split coupling of reversed-phase liquid chromatography in parallel to high resolution element and molecular mass spectrometry for the identification of arsenolipid compounds in different commercial fish species. Arsenic species are also in the focus of research paper of the group of Tanja Schwerdtle. They describe a toxicological study of the sulfur containing human metabolite thio-dimethylarsenic acid in human bladder cells. New insight to the toxic mode of action of this metabolite was gained revealing for the first time effects on the cellular DNA damage response. We thank all authors for their valuable contributions to this first thematic special issue of the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology. We hope that our readers will appreciate this selection of review and research papers on organometal(oid)s and that they will be inspired for their own research in this important and fascinating scientific field. Tanja Schwerdtle Dirk Schaumlöffel
