ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the lecithin's effect on membrane of African green monkey kidney cells (Vero) exposed to sodium arsenite(NaAsO2). Methods Vero cells cultured in vitro were divided into 4 groups:control group (saline), model group (2.20 mg/L NaAsO2), high eoncentration of lecithin and arsenic group (53.33mg/L lecithin + 2.20 mg/L NaAsO2), low eoncentration of lecithin and arsenic group( 13.32 mg/L lecithin + 2.20 mg/L NaAsO2), 6 bottles of cells in each group, medium was changed every 2 days, cultured for 120 h. Na+ ,K+-ATPase activities of membrane were measured by spectrophotometry, and membrane phospholipids composition including phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylethano-lamine (PE), phosphatidylcholine (PC) and sphingmyelin (SM) were measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results The Na~, K+-ATPase activities of membrane of control group, model group, high concentration of lecithin and arsenic group, low concentration of lecithin and arsenic group were (0.962 ± 0.081) × 106, (0.544 ± 0.037) × 106, (0.647 ± 0.043) x 106, (0.550±Compared with control group, the Na+ ,K+-ATPase activities of other 3 groups were significantly reduced (all P 0.05). Compared with control group[(0.087 ± 0.003), (0.127 ± 0.053), (0.588 ± 0.105),(0.071 ± 0.029)g/L], PS, PE, PC, SM levels in model group[(0.051 ± 0.018), (0.073 + 0.030), (0.240 ±0.038), (0.047 ± 0.121 )g/L] were significantly lower(all P 0.05), but SM[(0.057 ± 0.004)g/L] significantly decreased(P 0.05]. Compared with model group,the levels of PS, PE, PC, SM in high concentration of lecithin and arsenic group were significantly higher(all P 0.05), and PC was significantly higher(P < 0.05). Conclusions High concentration lecithin has certain protective effect on Vero cell membrane exposured to sodium arsenite.