BACKGROUND Recent studies have suggested that several genes that mediate mercury metabolism are polymorphic in humans. OBJECTIVE We hypothesized that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in metallothionein (MT) genes may underlie interindividual differences in mercury biomarker levels. We studied the potential modifying effects of MT SNPs on mercury exposure-biomarker relationships. METHO...

OBJECTIVES Exposure misclassification is a major obstacle to obtain accurate dose-response relationships. In order to solve this problem, the impact of hair treatment on total mercury in hair was assessed in Japanese women. METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out among 327 women at age 24-49 years to determine hair mercury levels and estimate daily mercury intakes from seafood by usin...

Mercury emissions into the environment have both natural and anthropogenic sources. Natural sources include volcanic activity, erosion of mineral deposits (the earth’s crust contains 0.5 parts per million of mercury) (Gochfeld, 2003; Gustin, 2003), association with hydrocarbons (Miedaner et al., 2005; Wilhelm et al., 2006), and volatilization from the oceans, whereas man related sources include...

Acute and chronic exposure to arsenic and mercury is known to produce vasoconstriction. There is, however, no clarity concerning the pathways leading to this increased contraction. In this study we elicit and compare maximum contractility of rat aortas under resting conditions in the presence of arsenic and mercury, and delineate pathways mediating this effect. Phenylephrine (PE) induced hyperc...

Mercury is a toxic heavy metal which is widely dispersed in nature. Most human exposure results from fish consumption or dental amalgam. Mercury occurs in several chemical forms, with complex pharmacokinetics. Mercury is capable of inducing a wide range of clinical presentations. Diagnosis of mercury toxicity can be challenging but can be obtained with reasonable reliability. Effective therapie...

The authors investigated renal damage in 45 mercury miners under conditions of relatively short and low-level exposure to elemental (metallic) mercury vapour (Hg0). The analysis included urinary mercury, immunoelectrophoresis of urinary proteins, immunofixation and high-resolution electrophoresis, quantitative analysis of urinary albumin, and urinary alpha 1-microglobulin before and after expos...

The concentrations of total mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and organochlorine pesticides (SigmaDDT, dieldrin, hexachlorobenzene [HCB], and SigmaHCH) were determined in 61 whale meat products (bacon, blubber, red meat, liver, intestine, and tongue) purchased from retail outlets across Japan. Mean (range) concentrations of contaminants in all samples were: total mercury 4.17 (0.01-204...

BACKGROUND Mercury is a ubiquitous and highly toxic environmental pollutant. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between mercury exposure and oxidative stress, serum and urinary mercury concentrations, oxidative DNA damage, and serum redox status in chronically mercury-exposed persons compared with healthy controls. METHODS We measured urinary 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), wh...