A disadvantageous effect of adsorption of barium by melanin on transforming activity

Chemosphere
Yasuhiro OmataMasashi Kato

Abstract

At present, beneficial effects of melanin and harmful effects of barium have been reported. However, little is known about the adsorption of barium, and even less is known about the biological significance of adsorption of barium by melanin. In this study, we showed that there was a strong correlation between the digitalized level of skin pigmentation and barium level in murine skin compared to the correlations between skin pigmentation level and levels of homologous elements of barium (magnesium, calcium and strontium). The concentration of subcutaneously injected barium in skin with a high level of pigmentation was higher than that in skin with a low level of pigmentation. Our cell-free experiment using the Langmuir isotherm for adsorption of barium in synthetic melanin also provided direct evidence of adsorption of barium by melanin. We then investigated the biological significance of melanin-mediated barium adsorption. We found barium-mediated increase in transforming activity in pigmented melanocytes (melan-a) but not in unpigmented melanocytes (melan-c) after confirming that the barium level in melan-a melanocytes was 3.4-fold higher than that in melan-c melanocytes after culture of 5 μM barium for 24 h. Taken together, o...Continue Reading

Citations

May 29, 2020·Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine·Masashi KatoIchiro Yajima
May 19, 2019·Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine·Wei ChenMasashi Kato
Jul 14, 2020·Environmental Pollution·Huadong XuMasashi Kato
Mar 27, 2021·The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology·Huadong XuMasashi Kato

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