It is well documented that arsenic exposure through drinking water causes different types of manifestations covering almost all human body system. The human exposure to arsenic is being evaluated by clinical signs and symptoms and by laboratory investigation like metabolic products of arsenic in urine. Objective of the present study was to determine total antioxidant capacity in human exposed to arsenic. The study was conducted at West Bengal, India and n=108 subjects were recruited for conducting study. All subjects were investigated for health status and antioxidant profile. Water samples were analyzed for arsenic analysis. Significant rise (p<0.001) in serum uric acid (UA) level, as preliminary oxidative stress marker, was observed in 58% cases of group of tested population consuming >50µg/lit arsenic in drinking water. Declining trend of glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and glutathione reductase (GR) were also demonstrated in our experiments. Similarly, decline in Total Antioxidant Status (57% cases) of the >50µg/lit group was in agreement with the elevation of serum UA. Arsenic induced dermal manifestations were observed in 6.4% of tested population. Our study also indicated reduced oxidative stress parameters in a significant number of cases without signs and symptoms of arsenic exposure. Therefore, it may be concluded that the high arsenic consuming group (>50µg/lit) suffer from irreversible oxidative stress, which could not be compensated leading to symptomatic disease.
