Journal Reading

In

General Chemistry

Submitted by:
Hazel Grace M. Bellen
BS Biology 1-1

Submitted to:
Dr. Emelinda Sabando
Faculty, College of Science
 Liver cells show species selective uptake of inorganic bismuth
A Piece of Puzzle in the
Bismuth Technology
Liver cells transform inorganic bismuth into potentially
toxic methylated species, according to observations from
scientists in Germany.

Inorganic bismuth is known to have low toxicity and is

often used as a lead substitute, for example in paints and
alloys; it is even used in medicine as an anti-gastric and anti-
ulcer agent. However, there is evidence that intestinal
microflora can convert inorganic bismuth compounds into
multiply-methylated species, which are highly toxic and can
cause brain disfunction. Now Markus Hollmann and
colleagues, at the University of Duisberg-Essen, have shown
that human hepatic cells can also convert inorganic bismuth
to organic bismuth.

The researchers incubated the cells with various

bismuth complexes and trapped the resulting volatile
bismuth species by mixing the cell lysate with sodium
tetraethylborate to form heavier ethylated derivatives. They
could then analyse the mixture using a combined gas
chromatography– mass spectrometry technique. They found
that some bismuth species were methylated but bismuth
glutathione was not, indicating that cell uptake of bismuth is
species-dependent.

‘As far as we know, this study is the first to show

bismuth methylation using mammalian cells and our work
provides another piece in the puzzle of bismuth toxicology
and bismuth metabolism,’ says Hollmann.

Yasumitsu Ogra, an expert in chemical toxicology from

Showa Pharmaceutical University, Tokyo, Japan, agrees. ‘The
evidence for bismuth methylation may give novel
toxicological insight,’ he says. ‘The technique paves a road
to speciation of other volatile metal/metalloid containing
metabolites in biological samples,’ he adds.

The German team plans to pursue several avenues in

future research. These include investigating the methylation
process and its time dependency and kinetics, and
eventually the cellular distributions of the bismuth
compounds.-Carl Saxton

Source: Highlights in Chemical Biology, December

2009, Volume 4, Issue 12; www.rsc.org/higlightschembiology

Summary:
Liver cells or hepatic cells can transform inorganic bismuth into a
toxic substance with the process called methylation, according to the
German scientists. They incubated the cells and got the bismuth species
and mixed it with cell lysate and sodium tetraethylborate. Using the
process called gas chromatography, they analyse the bismuth species.
Some species are methylated but some are not. According to them,
this is the first time bismuth methylation is shown in mammalian cells
and it paved the discovery of another piece of puzzle in bismuth
toxicology and metabolism. They plan to aspire for studies in the future
which includes methylation.

Reaction:
I choose the article which I can relate to not the ones which are
unfamiliar to me. The article tackles about the transformation of
inorganic bismuth into toxic substance by the process of methylation.
Liver is one of the most important organs in the body. It produces bile
which is vital in emulsification of fats.

By reading this article, I discovered that the liver cells has the
capability of transforming a substance with low toxicity into toxic but
not all of them. They only select which species they will transform into
methylated ones. I will watch out for the updates about this research
topic.