Short-term actions of arsenic trioxide on metabolic fluxes in the isolated perfused rat liver

Abstract Arsenic trioxide has recently been approved for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia, but it is also a highly toxic compound. The purpose of the present work was to obtain a general view about the acute effects of arsenic trioxide on liver metabolism using the isolated perfused rat liver, a system that preserves microcirculation and cell polarity. Hepatic lactate and alanine gluconeogenesis were inhibited by arsenic trioxide with IC 50 values of 21.7 and 21.4 µM, respectively.