N. Krari et al., ENHANCEMENT OF BISMUTH TOXICITY BY L-CYSTEINE, Research communications in molecular pathology and pharmacology, 89(3), 1995, pp. 357-364
Bismuth-induced encephalopathies observed in France about twenty years
ago have never received convincing explanation. In previous papers we
have shown in animal experiments that L-cysteine enhanced Bi absorpti
on without leading to encephalopathies. In this paper we have studied
in greater detail the toxicity and the pharmacokinetics of Bi, and L-c
ysteine, given by intraperitoneal route to mice, singly and simultaneo
usly as a Bi-L-cysteine complex. Bismuth and L-cysteine, were nontoxic
singly since their LD(50) were higher than 15 mmol/kg, but were toxic
(LD(50) = 0.3 mmol/kg) when they were given as a complex. The complex
was about 50 times more toxic than the separate products. The changes
in the levels of Bi and L-cysteine in blood versus time after the inj
ection of the Bi-L-cysteine complex suggests that the complex entered
into the blood under a non-dissociated form but just afterwards the co
mplex dissociated and the levels of Bi decreased rapidly whereas the l
evels of L-cysteine remained high. The concentrations of Bi in tissues
, blood, brain, kidney and liver were higher when it was given as the
Bi-L-cysteine complex than alone. But the increase of the levels of Bi
in tissues induced by L-cysteine was not sufficient to explain the 50
fold increase of the toxicity of the complex in comparison with Bi an
d L-cysteine given alone. Since the increase of the levels of Bi induc
ed by L-cysteine was not sufficient to explain the increase of the tox
icity of the complex, another explanation is required. We suggest that
this increase results from the stimulation of peroxidation by bismuth
and L-cysteine, as already observed for iron and L-cysteine. Other ex
periments are needed to verify the validity of this hypothesis.