The Prevalence of Inorganic Mercury in Human Kidneys Suggests a Role for Toxic Metals in Essential Hypertension

Abstract

The kidney plays a dominant role in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension, but the initial pathogenic events in the kidney leading to hypertension are not known. Exposure to mercury has been linked to many diseases including hypertension in epidemiological and experimental studies, so we studied the distribution and prevalence of mercury in the human kidney. Paraffin sections of kidneys were available from 129 people ranging in age from 1 to 104 years who had forensic/coronial autopsies. One individual had injected himself with metallic mercury, the other 128 were from varied clinicopathological backgrounds without known exposure to mercury. Sections were stained for inorganic mercury using autometallography. Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) was used on six samples to confirm the presence of autometallography-detected mercury and to look for other toxic metals. In the 128 people without known mercury exposure, mercury was found in: (1) proximal tubules of the cortex and Henle thin loops of the medulla, in 25% of kidneys (and also in the man who injected himself with mercury), (2) proximal tubules only in 16% of kidneys, and (3) Henle thin loops only in 23% of kidneys. The age-related proportion of people who had any mercury in their kidney was 0% at 1–20 years, 66% at 21–40 years, 77% at 41–60 years, 84% at 61–80 years, and 64% at 81–104 years. LA-ICP-MS confirmed the presence of mercury in samples staining with autometallography and showed cadmium, lead, iron, nickel, and silver in some kidneys. In conclusion, mercury is found commonly in the adult human kidney, where it appears to accumulate in proximal tubules and Henle thin loops until an advanced age. Dysfunctions of both these cortical and medullary regions have been implicated in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension, so these findings suggest that further studies of the effects of mercury on blood pressure are warranted.

Mercury is present in neurons and oligodendrocytes in regions of the brain affected by Parkinson’s disease and co-localises with Lewy bodies

“…This could explain the presence of some extra-CNS disorders associated with PD. Chronic kidney disease [ 23 ] and hypertension [ 77 , 78 ] appear to be more common in PD, and mercury in both the renal cortex and medulla can be found in older adults [ 79 ], including our PD patients. Kidney mercury could be responsible for the low levels of uric acid seen in PD [ 80 ], since chronic exposure to heavy metals can increase urate secretion [ 81 ].…”

Elemental biomapping of human tissues suggests toxic metals such as mercury play a role in the pathogenesis of cancer

“…Autometallography of human kidneys showed AMG TM predominantly in the cortex in renal proximal tubule cells (sparing glomeruli and distal tubule cells) (Figures 2A, B), and in the medulla in Henle thin loops (not in collecting ducts) (66,80). Renal tubule cell AMG TM started appearing in the third decade of life (in 66% of people aged 21-40 years) and peaked at 84% of people aged 61-80 years (77, 80).…”

High-speed mapping of Hg and Se in biological tissue via laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

“…16 In some cases, this observation was ignored and no specic action was taken to cope with these longer SPR durations. [17][18][19] In other cases, strategies such as lowering of the overall scanning speed [20][21][22] or introducing a waiting time between scans to allow the signal to return to background levels were introduced. 16,[23][24][25] Also Se, another element of considerable importance in a bio-context, was found to show an ablation and/or transport behaviour that leads to a longer SPR duration than the majority of the other elements.…”