Metallothionein, zinc, and mercury levels in tissues of young rats exposed to zinc and subsequently to mercury

Renal metallothionein responds rapidly and site specifically to zinc repletion in growing rats

“…While we did not observe MT staining in the glomerulus, others have reported upregulated MT-I mRNA levels at this site in response to oxidative stress [30]. Beyond a role in zinc excretion, zinc-containing MT at these sites may also be important for oxidative protection, as several authors have shown that MT protects against cadmium-, copper-, mercury-, iron-or isoproterenol-induced renal damage [16,29,[31][32][33][34][35][36] and more specifically against proximal convoluted tubular damage [29,35], agreeing with MT localization in the current study. Also, in a mouse model of diabetic nephropathy, those cross-bred with MT-transgenic mice had delayed progression of renal disease that included tubulointerstitial fibrosis [12], further defining a protective role of MT on tubular pathology.…”

Metallothionein, essential elements and lipid peroxidation in mercury-exposed suckling rats pretreated with selenium

“…Although it is a clearly confirmed fact in adult animals, induction of MT by metals in young animals has not been well studied (Zalups 2000;Sabolić et al 2010), and the thus far published results are conflicting. Peixoto et al (2007) confirmed induction of MT by ZnCl 2 , but not by HgCl 2 in the kidney of 13-day-old rats. Also Brambila et al (2002) failed to see induction of MT in the kidney of 1, 7, 14 and 21-day-old rats exposed to Hg8 vapor in utero.…”

“…According to the available literature, this is the first report of Hgstimulated renal MT expression in neonatal rat. Peixoto et al (2007) did not find enhanced MT expression in the liver or kidneys of rat pups of similar age receiving HgCl 2 (s.c.) in even higher dose than in our study. Also Brambila et al (2002) failed to see an The results are presented as mean ± SEM or mean (range in parenthesis).…”

Zinc and N-acetylcysteine modify mercury distribution and promote increase in hepatic metallothionein levels

“…Inorganic mercury also affects liver, blood, intestine, thyroid and testicles [3,4]. In fact, recent studies have demonstrated that animals exposed to mercury chloride (HgCl 2 ) (5 mg/kg) present renal [5][6][7][8], hepatic [9][10][11][12], testicular [13], behavioral [14,15] and cardiovascular [16] alterations.…”