Tags: Disease.
Arsenic and many of its compounds are especially potent poisons. Arsenic disrupts ATP production through several mechanisms. At the level of the citric acid cycle arsenic inhibits pyruvate dehydrogenase and by competing with phosphate it uncouples oxidative phosphorylation thus inhibiting energy-linked reduction of NAD+ mitochondrial respiration and ATP synthesis. Hydrogen peroxide production is also increased which might form reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress.