Kidney concentrations and urinary excretion of mercury, zinc and copper following the administration of mercuric chloride and sodium selenite to rats

Abstract

The effect of single (SC) administration of mercuric chloride (1 mg Hg/kg) alone or jointly with (PO) sodium selenite (0.39 mg Se/kg) on kidney disposition of mercury (Hg) and metallothionein (MT) and urinary excretion of Hg, zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) has been studied in the female rat. The excretion of Hg and essential metals was determined every day following exposure. Daily excretion of endogenous Cu and Zn the Hg-exposed group was about threefold and fourfold, respectively, in comparison with control groups of rats. Sodium selenite prevented the urinary excretion of endogenous Cu and partly of Zn.

Metallothionein, essential elements and lipid peroxidation in mercury-exposed suckling rats pretreated with selenium

“…Significant increase of renal Cu and Zn after oral HgCl 2 exposure is in agreement with reports in adult animals (Bogden et al 1980;Chmielnicka et al 1986;Liu et al 1992) and suckling pups (only renal Cu, not Zn; Peixoto et al 2008). Our report of Hg-induced excretion of Cu and Zn in urine of suckling rats is unique, and correlates with findings in adult animals (Chmielnicka et al 1986;Liu et al 1992). It is known from the literature that HgCl 2 stimulates MT synthesis in kidneys, and not in the liver of adult animals (Zalups 2000).…”

“…Our findings of delayed transport of Hg from the blood of Se ? Hg-group and higher affinity for storage in the liver than in the kidneys of suckling rats compared to Hg-group are in agreement with previous findings in adult animals (Chmielnicka et al 1986;reviewed in Yang et al 2008;Khan and Wang 2009) and with our earlier experiments with suckling pups (Orct et al 2009). Fast formation of water soluble mercuric selenide-selenoprotein P complex in the blood markedly reduces transport of Hg to renal cells but is proven to appear in the hepatocytes after 24 h where it might undergo proteolysis and form inert HgSe complex with a very slow elimination time (reviewed in Yang et al 2008).…”

“…Magos and Webb (1976) and Chmielnicka et al (1986) reported the same findings in adult rats-reduction of urinary and faecal Hg mass fraction in the Se ? Hg-group.…”

“…Generally, Hg, and more rarely Se, content was measured in various tissues of adult (Magos and Webb 1976;Abdulla and Chmielnicka 1990;Nielsen and Andersen 1991;Agarwal and Behari 2007;Su et al 2008;Agarwal et al 2010) and young suckling animals (Orct et al 2009) exposed to Hg and Se, but without exploring the effect on other endogenous essential elements, especially in young animals. Chmielnicka et al (1986) found in adult rats that Se lowered Hg-induced renal deposition and urinary excretion of Cu and partly Zn in acute single dose experiment. Peixoto et al (2008) investigated the effect of Zn-supplementation on Hg-intoxicated suckling rat pups and subsequent essential element changes.…”

Essential Elements as Early Indicators of Hexavalent Chromium Nephrotoxicity

“…Changes in the homeostasis of essential elements, especially zinc and copper, by toxic metals have been studied with a view to understand the harmful action of these elements on the organism. Disturbances in the metabolism of endogenous metals may be induced in experimental animals by the administration of cadmium (Bonner et al, 1979;Ha"atek et al, 1990;Chmielnicka and Sowa, 1996), inorganic mercury (Bogden et al, 1980;Chmielnicka and Komsta-Szumska, 1980;Chmielnicka et al, 1986), alkilmercury compounds Chmielnicka, 1981, 1985a,b;Chmielnicka et al, 1989), nickel (Chmielnicka et al, 1982), tin , bismuth (SzymanH ska et al, 1993), and lead (Victery et al, 1982;Zare & ba and Chmielnicka, 1989). The most signi"cant changes in the essential copper and zinc concentration in the liver and kidney are correlated with an increase in the level of metallothionein.…”