Mercury and its effect on human health: a review of the literature

Abstract

Mercury in human body is a free radical that can cause depletion of glutathione (GSH) and hoarding of H2O2, leading to shorten the age of erythrocytes and cause haemolysis. Approximately 90% organic form can be absorbed by the intestinal wall, while inorganic forms are only about 10%. The initial form can also penetrate the blood and placental barrier so that it can cause teratogenic effects and nervous disorders. The effects of mercury toxicity on humans depend on the chemical form of mercury, dosage, age of people exposed, length of exposure, entry into the body, fish diet and consumption of seafood. Mercury is able to bind sulfidril proteins in cells resulting in nonspecific cell injury or even cell death, cessation of microtubule formation, enzyme inhibition, oxidative stress, cessation of protein and DNA synthesis, and autoimmune responses. Classified into a very toxic metal, mercury can trigger the formation of ROS, hydrogen peroxide, lipid peroxidation, hydroxyl radicals that can inhibit enzymes, cell damage, DNA damage, protein structure damage, disruption on the body's antioxidant metabolism, especially superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). Mercury exposure is associated with an increased risk of hypertension, myocardial infarction, coronary dysfunction, and atherosclerosis. This review is clearly in line to investigate the effect of mercury on human health based on previous research, article and other literature sources.

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“…Furthermore, free radicals from the mercuric ion may also deactivate several enzymes by blocking the functional sites through binding to their sulfhydryl groups, which are part of catalytic or binding domains 60 . HgCl 2 also depletes defensive antioxidants, namely glutathione, and inhibits the activities of free radical scavenging systems, including catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) 61 . Primarily, oxidative damage occurs by developing reactive oxygen species such as superoxide anions, and peroxides, and it can damage the proteins, lipids, and DNA.…”

Mercury speciation in selenium enriched wheat plants exposed to mercury pollution

“…The ability of the methylated group to cross the blood-brain barrier makes it more prone to the development of nervous and nephron pathologies in humans (Sharma et al 2019). Moreover, in pregnant women, methylmercury species may affect the foetus development and may lead to congenital neural disorders (Humaira 2016; Karita et al 2016;Nica et al 2017).…”

“…The Hg species present in soil depend on soil characteristics such as pH and moisture of the soil, the presence of sulphur reducing bacteria, and organic matter content. In general, Hg is present in solid forms as mercurous or mercuric salts which can be reduced into elemental and methylated forms (Humaira 2016).…”

MERCURY CHLORIDE (HgCl2) EXPOSURE CHANGES THE HISTOPATHOLOGICAL FIGURE OF EYE AND BRAIN OF TILAPIA FISH (Oreochromis mossambicus)

“…Mercury in nature comes in two forms, namely inorganic mercury such as mercury chloride (HgCl2) and mercury oxide (HgO), and organic/organomercury consisting of methylmercury (CH3Hg+) and ethylmercury (C2H5Hg+). Both types are toxic, however the natural and anthropogenic emissions occur as inorganic form (Zulaikhah et al 2020;Macirella et al 2016).…”