Review: Environmental exposure to mercury and its toxicopathologic implications for public health

Abstract

Mercury is a toxic and hazardous metal that occurs naturally in the earth's crust. Natural phenomena such as erosion and volcanic eruptions, and anthropogenic activities like metal smelting and industrial production and use may lead to substantial contamination of the environment with mercury. Through consumption of mercury in food, the populations of many areas, particularly in the developing world, have been confronted with catastrophic outbreaks of mercury-induced diseases and mortality. Countries such as Japan, Iraq, Ghana, the Seychelles, and the Faroe Islands have faced such epidemics, which have unraveled the insidious and debilitating nature of mercury poisoning. Its creeping neurotoxicity is highly devastating, particularly in the central and peripheral nervous systems of children. Central nervous system defects and erethism as well as arrythmias, cardiomyopathies, and kidney damage have been associated with mercury exposure. Necrotizing bronchitis and pneumonitis arising from inhalation of mercury vapor can result in respiratory failure. Mercury is also considered a potent immunostimulant and -suppressant, depending on exposure dose and individual susceptibility, producing a number of pathologic sequelae including lymphoproliferation, hypergammaglobulinemia, and total systemic hyper- and hyporeactivities. In this review we discuss the sources of mercury and the potential for human exposure; its biogeochemical cycling in the environment; its systemic, immunotoxic, genotoxic/carcinogenic, and teratogenic health effects; and the dietary influences on its toxicity; as well as the important considerations in risk assessment and management of mercury poisoning.

Patterns of Bacterial Diversity Along a Long-Term Mercury-Contaminated Gradient in the Paddy Soils

“…Extensive research has been devoted to exploring the influence of Hg pollution on human health [2,3]. Recently, the impact of Hg on soil microbial communities also has received great concern [4][5][6][7] because soil microorganisms are responsible for many fundamental ecological processes such as C and N biogeochemical cycles [8].…”

Trophodynamics of inorganic pollutants in a wide-range feeder: The relevance of dietary inputs and biomagnification in the Yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis)

“…Aquatic organisms, and those exploiting aquatic resources, are particularly exposed to increasing levels of pollutants as aquatic systems are usually the ultimate pollutant sink, either due to diffuse sources, or direct discharges from the terrestrial and atmospheric compartments. In addition, the increasing fish consumption by most human populations (FAO, 2005) raises the need of understanding the trophodynamics of these contaminants, particularly in those marine and freshwater foodwebs (Dewailly and Knap, 2006;Risher et al, 2002;Simmonds et al, 2002;Tchounwou et al, 2003). In this sense, top predators are often suggested as ideal biomonitoring candidates as they integrate pollutant levels along food chains (Becker, 2003;Burger and Gochfeld, 2004;Cabana and Rasmussen, 1994;McIntyre and Beauchamp, 2007).…”

Metal‐Induced Specific and Nonspecific Oligonucleotide Folding Studied by FRET and Related Biophysical and Bioanalytical Implications

“…[25,26] To manage the mercury contamination problem, many sensors have been developed. [27] In particular, a large number of fluorescent, [15,[28][29][30] colorimetric, [31,32] and electrochemical sensors [33,34] have been designed based on the Hg II -thymine binding.…”