Human Health Effects of Methylmercury Exposure

Abstract

Mercury (Hg), and the organometallic compounds formed from it, are among the most toxic of substances to the global environment. Mercury is environmentally ubiquitous, and both wildlife and humans are exposed to the toxic effects of its environmental residues, primarily elemental mercury (Hg0), divalent mercury (Hg2+) and methylmercury (MeHg). Humans are exposed to different forms of Hg, and potential health risks have been reported from such exposures; examples of Hg exposure include mercury vapor from dental amalgams, occupational exposures and exposures during artisan and small-scale gold mining operations. Despite the significance of those foregoing Hg exposures, of particular concern is human and wildlife exposure to MeHg, a potent neurotoxicant. Once incorporated into the body, MeHg easily penetrates the blood-brain barrier and causes damage to the central nervous system, particularly in fetuses. It bioaacumulates and biomagnifies in the aquatic food chain; consequently, fish and seafood consumption is the major pathway by which humans are exposed to MeHg. MeHg is the focus of this review. It adversely affects humans and is currently the subject of intense public health interest and worldwide concern. In this review, I summarize the sources and cycling of global mercury in the environment, pathways of exposure, toxicity and exposure evaluation, toxicokinetics, the common biomarkers to evaluate exposure and effects in populations, and finally review the nutritional risks and benefits from fish consumption.

Parkinson Disease Protein DJ-1 Binds Metals and Protects against Metal-induced Cytotoxicity

“…The primary environmental effectors believed to be involved are toxic pollutants such as pesticides and toxic metals, causing brain inflammation and oxidative damage to neurons (56,57). Mercury, in particularly the lipophilic methylmercury, bioaccumulates in the food chain and is stored in biological tissue, especially in the brain (58). Dose-response association between PD and blood mercury levels has been reported (10).…”

Arginine decarboxylase: A novel biological target of mercury compounds identified in PC12 cells

“…across the blood-brain barrier as a cysteine complex by the L-type neutral amino acid carrier transport (LAT) system [15][16][17]. MeHg hampers the physiological increase in glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities in the rodent CNS during the early postnatal period, but also decreases GPx activity in adult animals [18,19].…”

Identification of mercury methylation product by tert-butyl compounds in aqueous solution under light irradiation

“…However, the methylation of inorganic Hg is ubiquitous in the environment (Jonsson et al, 2012;Parks et al, 2013), which consequently leads to a significant increase in Hg toxicity. Methylmercury is considered to be one of the most toxic Hg species present in the environment (Darbieu, 1993;Grandjean, 2007), thus posing a great public health risk (Diez, 2009). …”