Effects of arsenic deprivation in hamsters.

An experiment was conducted to ascertain the effects of arsenic deprivation in hamsters. Male weanling Golden Syrian hamsters were fed a casein-corn-based diet containing approximately 12 ng arsenic/g. Controls were fed 1 microgram arsenic/g of diet, as Na2HAsO4.7 H2O. After 6 weeks arsenic deprivation elevated heart weight/body weight ratio and the concentration of liver zinc and decreased the concentrations of the plasma amino acids alanine, glycine, phenylalanine and taurine. Although no biological role has been found for arsenic, the findings indicate that the hamster is a suitable animal for arsenic deprivation studies and support the hypothesis that arsenic may have a physiological role that influences methionine/methyl metabolism.