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Mercury and multiple sclerosis
Author(s) -
Clausen J.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.1993.tb04137.x
Subject(s) - mercury (programming language) , multiple sclerosis , methylation , chemistry , lipid metabolism , autopsy , environmental chemistry , physiology , pathology , medicine , biochemistry , immunology , dna , computer science , programming language
It has occasionally been claimed that multiple sclerosis (MS) may be due to a chronic mercury intoxication, e.g. from mercury liberated from dental fillings. Therefore, the present communication compares the mercury content assayed by neutron activation in 8 macroscopically normal areas (frontal lobe) of MS autopsy brains with those of 8 control samples. No significant differences could be traced between the two groups concerning total mercury. However, the lipid‐soluble mercury (preferably methyl mercury) expressed per cell unit (DNA) was found significantly decreased in MS. These data may be explained either by a wash‐out of lipid soluble mercury due to break‐down of the blood‐brain barrier in MS or to abnormalities in methylation processes probably related to the vitamin B 12 metabolism in MS.