Effect of arsenic compounds on the in vitro differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells into cardiomyocytes.

ABSTRACT

Arsenic is a known carcinogen; however, there is no information on the toxic effects of inorganic arsenic and its intermediate metabolites, monomethylarsonous acid (MMA(III)) and dimethylarsinous acid (DMA(III)), during the differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells into cardiomyocytes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of arsenic compounds on ES cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes in vitro and to predict the associated toxic effects. Although iAs(III) is known to be toxic, here we found that iAs(III) and DMA(III) did not influence ES cellular differentiation, whereas MMA(III) inhibited ES cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes, suggesting that MMA(III) has adverse effects on embryonic stem cells.