Environmental pollutants and other chemicals may have increasing impact on the immune system of human beings. Disregulation of the immune system by chemicals may be one of the reasons why the frequency of allergies and autoimmune diseases increases. Human hapten-specific memory lymphocytes can be detected in the blood of patients with druginduced immunologic side effects but not in similarly ex...

Autism is a syndrome characterized by impairments in social relatedness and communication, repetitive behaviors, abnormal movements, and sensory dysfunction. Recent epidemiological studies suggest that autism may affect 1 in 150 US children. Exposure to mercury can cause immune, sensory, neurological, motor, and behavioral dysfunctions similar to traits defining or associated with autism, and t...

BACKGROUND This study was undertaken to determine the effect of thimerosal on the neurodevelopment of premature rats. METHODS Thimerosal was injected into premature SD rats at a dose of 32.8, 65.6, 98.4 or 131.2 μg/kg on postnatal day 1. Expression of dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) and serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2AR), apoptosis in the prefrontal cortex on post-injection day 49, and learning and ...

The interaction of thimerosal, an ethylmercury-containing bactericide and fungicide used as preservative in vaccines and other drugs, with free thiols in proteins has been investigated using gradient reversed phase liquid chromatography (LC) with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) detection. As model proteins, b-lactoglobulin A (18....

The autism–mercury hypothesis first described by Bernard et al. has generated much interest and controversy. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) reviewed the connection between mercury-containing vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. They concluded that the hypothesis was biologically plausible but that there was insufficient evidence to accept or reject a causal connection a...

Introduction Abstract In this study, we evaluated doses of mercury from thimerosal-containing childhood immunizations in comparison to US Federal Safety Guidelines and the effects of increasing doses of mercury on the inc idence of neurodevelopment disorders and heart disease. This study showed that children received mercury from this source in excess of the Federal Safety Guidelines for the or...

TRPV1, a receptor for capsaicin, plays a key role in mediating thermal and inflammatory pain. Because the modulation of ion channels by the cellular redox state is a significant determinant of channel function, we investigated the effects of sulfhydryl modification on the activity of TRPV1. Thimerosal, which oxidizes sulfhydryls, blocked the capsaicin-activated inward current (I(cap)) in cultur...

We have previously found that for permeabilized L1210 cells, low micromolar concentrations of Ins(1,3,4,5)P % added prior to Ins(2,4,5)P $ enhance the effects of suboptimal concentrations of Ins(2,4,5)P $ in causing Ca#+ release from InsP $ -sensitive Ca#+ stores [Cullen, Irvine and Dawson (1990) Biochem. J. 271, 549–553]. If this was due either to some conversion of added Ins(1,3,4,5)P % into ...

Members of the genus Acanthamoeba are increasingly recognized as agents of indolent, chronic, infectious keratitis. Recently, Acanthamoeba corneal infection has been reported in some persons who wear soft contact lenses. In this study, three "heat" and three "cold" soft contact lens disinfection systems were tested according to the manufacturers' instructions against Acanthamoeba castellanii an...

The interest in ethylmercury has been raised lately by a letter sent to The Lancet suggesting that ethylmercurythiosalicylate preservative (product names: Thimerosal, Thiomersal, Merthiolate) in hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) caused severe ethylmercury intoxication.1 Most likely as a reverberation of this letter, the Public Health Service, US Department of Health and Human Services and the A...