Ultrastructural cytochemical analysis of intranuclear arsenic inclusions

Abstract

To establish the chemical composition of the arsenic inclusion, freshly isolated preparations of inclusions and epon-embedded thin sections of inclusions were subjected to ultrastructural cytochemical analysis. Intranuclear inclusions are composed of amorphous, arsenic-containing subunits aligned linearly to form a coiled complex. Lipase, ribonuclease, deoxyribonuclease, trypsin, pepsin, protease, amylase, or ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) was used to digest or chelate these inclusions. Following enzymatic digestion or chelation, the electron opacity of inclusions was compared with that of control sections exposed for equal times to equivalent solutions lacking the enzymes. Exposure to amylase caused a consistent reduction in the electron opacity of thin sections of inclusions and almost complete digestion of the freshly isolated preparations of inclusions. This was indicative of the presence of a carbohydrate moiety within arsenic inclusions. Incubation of inclusions with EDTA resulted in solubilization of freshly isolated and thin-sectioned embedded material. These data indicated that the intranuclear arsenic inclusion is composed of both metallic and carbohydrate moieties, confirming earlier studies which identified arsenic within inclusions using instrumental neutron activation analysis and X-ray microprobe analysis.