Premium
Mechanisms of mercury disposition in the body
Author(s) -
Clarkson Thomas W.,
Vyas Jayesh B.,
Ballatori Nazzareno
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.20476
Subject(s) - methylmercury , mercury (programming language) , cysteine , environmental chemistry , mercury poisoning , biophysics , medicine , chemistry , biochemistry , toxicity , organic chemistry , biology , bioaccumulation , enzyme , computer science , programming language
Today the most widespread human exposures to mercury are to mercury vapor emitted from amalgam tooth fillings, to ethylmercury as a preservative in vaccines, and to methylmercury in edible tissues of fish. This review will focus on the mechanisms of transport of these three species of mercury. All three species are freely moveable throughout the body. Inhaled vapor in view of its physical properties as an uncharged atomic gas is believed to be transported by passive diffusion. Methylmercury and ethylmercury also move freely in the body. Methylmercury, and presumably its closely related chemical cousin ethylmercury, cross cell membranes as complexes with small molecular weight thiol compounds, entering the cell in part as a cysteine complex on the large neutral amino acid carriers and exiting the cell in part as a complex with reduced glutathione on endogenous carriers. The implications of these mechanisms with regard to biological monitoring are discussed. Am. J. Ind. Med. 50:757–764, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.