Persistent Mercury in Nerve Cells 16 Years After Metallic Mercury Poisoning

Abstract

Hargreaves R.J., Evans J. G., Janota I., Magos L. & Cavanagh J. B. (1988) Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology 14, 443–452 Persistent mercury in nerve cells 16 years after metallic mercury poisoning A male subject, after exposure to mercury metal at work in 1968, developed classical signs of mercurialism from which he made a slow clinical recovery. He subsequently developed psychoneurotic symptoms and became an alcoholic; he never returned to work and died in 1984. No histological changes relevant to mercury intoxication were found in the brain, but staining by Danscher & Schroeder's method for mercury showed many positively staining lysosomal dense bodies in a large proportion of nerve cells, and the presence of mercury was confirmed by elemental X–ray analysis. The mercury content of the brain was increased, much of it being present in colloidal form.

Tissue levels of mercury determined in a deceased worker after occupational exposure

“…Kosta et al [14] found concentrations of 0.2±2 lg/g in seven Hg miners whose exposure had ceased at up to 16 years before their death. Hargreaves et al [10] found values of 1±4 lg/g in the cerebrum and 1 lg/g in the cerebellum of the subject mentioned in the section on kidney-Hg. Histochemical examination [4] showed Hg deposits, presumably in the form of Hg-Se or Hg-S, in lysosomal dense bodies in many nerve cells.…”

“…In deceased mercury miners who had been retired for several years the concentration of mercury measured in autopsy kidneys ranged from 2 to 19 lg/g [14,19]. Hargreaves et al [10] reported kidney-Hg levels of 1.7± 2.6 lg/g at the autopsy of a thermometer worker with a high level of prior Hg exposure (18 months, clinical symptoms of intoxication, U-Hg 700 lg/24 h, B-Hg 480 lg/l) that had ended 16 years previously. In a similar case [18], kidney-Hg was 1.7 lg/g at autopsy in a worker who had been exposed for 13 years, a period ending with Hg poisoning and U-Hg of 1850 lg/l at 17 years before death.…”

Does Inorganic Mercury Play a Role in Alzheimer's Disease? A Systematic Review and an Integrated Molecular Mechanism

“…The half-life of mercury in the brain is unclear. Modeling mercury deposition in the brain using autopsy data of traffic victims and intake streams through food yielded a half-life estimate of 22 years [19], and autopsies of proven clinical cases of Hg o poisoning have found high mercury levels in the brain as long as 17 years after the event [20,21].…”

Mercuralismo metálico crônico ocupacional

“…33,34,37,47,75 Contudo, vários resultados são contraditórios; por exemplo, alguns autores não observaram alterações imunológicas já registradas por outros.…”