Volcanic smog and cardiometabolic health: Hawaiian hypertension?

Brook, Robert D.; Brook, J. R.; Tam, Elizabeth K.

doi:10.1111/jch.13500

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The finding that mercury is found commonly in adult human kidneys could help explain several epidemiological findings in hypertension [ 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 ]. (1) The incidence of hypertension rises with age [ 72 , 82 ], so it was of interest that in our study, the proportion of people with mercury in their kidneys also increased with age, at roughly the same rate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So it is worth noting that wildfires have long been recognised as a source of mercury emissions [ 89 , 90 ], especially if they affect regions where the soil has previously been polluted with mercury from activities such as gold mining [ 91 ]. (5) People who live in the vicinity of volcanoes tend to have higher blood pressures [ 78 , 79 ], and volcanic eruptions are sources of mercury [ 92 ]. (6) Exposure to severe particulate atmospheric pollution has been linked to higher blood pressure [ 80 , 81 ], and atmospheric pollution often contains mercury [ 93 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Pamphlett

Doble

Bishop

2021

Toxics

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Pamphlett

Doble

Bishop

2021

Toxics

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“…(2) Indirect evidence of sympathetic overactivity in hypertension comes from the frequent finding of tachycardia 41 and tremor 42 in people with raised blood pressure. (3) Hypertension has been associated with mercury exposure in people living in the vicinity of volcanoes 43,44 (with eruptions being sources of mercury 45 ), as well as in people exposed to atmospheric pollution 46,47 that often has a mercury component 28 . (4) Hypertension and abdominal obesity are features of the metabolic syndrome, where sympathetic overdrive is implicated 5 , but why these two conditions are linked is unclear [48][49][50] .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury in the human adrenal medulla could contribute to increased plasma noradrenaline in aging

Pamphlett

Jew

Doble

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Plasma noradrenaline levels increase with aging, and this could contribute to the sympathetic overactivity that is associated with essential hypertension and the metabolic syndrome. The underlying cause of this rise in noradrenaline is unknown, but a clue may be that mercury increases noradrenaline output from the adrenal medulla of experimental animals. We therefore determined the proportion of people from 2 to 104 years of age who had mercury in their adrenal medulla. Mercury was detected in paraffin sections of autopsied adrenal glands using two methods of elemental bioimaging, autometallography and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Mercury first appeared in cells of the adrenal medulla in the 21–40 years group, where it was present in 52% of samples, and increased progressively in frequency in older age groups, until it was detected in 90% of samples from people aged over 80 years. In conclusion, the proportion of people having mercury in their adrenal medulla increases with aging. Mercury could alter the metabolism of catecholamines in the adrenal medulla that leads to the raised levels of plasma noradrenaline in aging. This retrospective autopsy study was not able to provide a definitive link between adrenal mercury, noradrenaline levels and hypertension, but future functional human and experimental studies could provide further evidence for these associations.

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The Environment and High Blood Pressure

Newman,

Brook

2024

Hypertension

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Volcanic smog and cardiometabolic health: Hawaiian hypertension?

Cited by 3 publications

References 19 publications

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

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

Mercury in the human adrenal medulla could contribute to increased plasma noradrenaline in aging

The Environment and High Blood Pressure

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