Arsenic in hair and nails has been used to assess chronic exposure of humans to environmental arsenic. However, it remains to be seen whether it is appropriate to evaluate acute exposure to sub-lethal doses of arsenic typically used in therapeutics. In this study, hair, fingernail and toenail samples were collected from nine acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) patients who were administered intravenously the daily dose of 10 mg arsenic trioxide (7.5 mg arsenic) for up to 54 days. These hair and nail samples were analyzed for arsenic species using high performance liquid chromatography separation and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detection (HPLC-ICPMS). Inorganic arsenite was the predominant form among water-extractable arsenicals. Dimethylarsinic acid (DMA^V), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA^V), monomethylarsonous acid (MMA^III), monomethylmonothioarsonic acid (MMMTA^V), and dimethylmonothioarsinic acid (DMMTA^V) were also detected in both hair and nail samples. This is the first report of the detection of MMA^III and MMMTA^V as metabolites of arsenic in hair and nails of APL patients.

头发和指甲中的砷已用于评估人类长期暴露于环境砷中。但是，尚需评估是否适合急性暴露于通常用于治疗的亚致死剂量的砷中。在这项研究中，从9例急性早幼粒细胞白血病（APL）患者中收集了头发，指甲和脚趾甲样品，这些患者每天静脉内服用10 mg三氧化二砷（7.5 mg砷），长达54天。使用高效液相色谱分离和电感耦合等离子体质谱检测（HPLC-ICPMS）对这些头发和指甲样品中的砷进行分析。无机砷是水提取砷中的主要形式。二甲基ar酸（DMA ^V），单甲基ar酸（MMA^V），单甲基亚砷酸（MMA ^III），单甲基单硫代砷酸（MMMTA ^V）和二甲基单硫代砷酸（DMMTA ^V）也在头发和指甲样品中检测到。这是关于在APL患者的头发和指甲中检测到MMA ^III和MMMTA ^V作为砷代谢产物的首次报道。