Methylmercury (MeHg) is an organic form of mercury that can damage the developing brains of human fetuses. Women who consume methylmercury during pregnancy [2] can bear children who have neurological issues because methylmercury has toxic effects on the nervous system during embryonic development. During the third week of gestation [3], the human nervous system begins to form in the embryo. Dur...

Methylmercury selectively damages the central nervous system (CNS). The tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily includes representative cytokines that participate in the inflammatory response as well as cell survival, and apoptosis. In this study, we found that administration of methylmercury selectively induced TNF-α expression in the brain of mice. Although the accumulated mercury concentrati...

Methylmercury (MeHg) is an organic form of mercury that can damage the developing brains of human fetuses. Women who consume methylmercury during pregnancy [2] can bear children who have neurological issues because methylmercury has toxic effects on the nervous system during embryonic development. During the third week of gestation [3], the human nervous system begins to form in the embryo. Dur...

We report here that overexpression of Rad23, a protein related to the ubiquitin-proteasome system, renders yeast cells resistant to methylmercury. Rad23 has three domains: two ubiquitin-associated (UBA) domains that bind to the multiubiquitin chain of ubiquitinated proteins and a single ubiquitin-like (UbL) domain that binds to proteasomes. To examine the mechanism of acquisition of methylmercu...

A massive outbreak of methylmercury poisoning took place in the winter of 1971-1972 due to the consumption of homemade bread contaminated with a methylmercury fungicide. The longitudinal analysis of the mother's head hair, collected after delivery of the baby, provided a means of recapitulating exposure to methylmercury during pregnancy. Methylmercury is incorporated into newly formed hair at a...

Background: Methylmercury is one of the most toxic forms of mercury, which severely afflicts the developing fetus. Methylmercury exposure occurs not only through fish consumption but also through rice consumption. However, rice does not contain the same beneficial micronutrients that fish/shellfish has. Therefore, prenatal methylmercury exposure through maternal rice consumption may potentially...

.......................................................... 4 SUMMARY IN SWEDISH – SAMMANFATTNING PÅ SVENSKA ............................................................. 6 ABBREVIATIONS ................................................. 7 ORIGINAL PAPERS .............................................. 8 INTRODUCTION .................................................. 9 Cardiovascular disease ........

The Panel has been asked to assess the possible risks to human health from the consumption of foods contaminated with mercury and methylmercury, based on intake estimates for Europe and the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) established recently by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Mercury is an environmental contaminant that is present in fish and seafood pr...

The interactions of methylmercury with rat liver lysosomes were investigated. The results indicate that methylmercury enhances the proton permeability in membranes. Since this uncoupling mechanism necessarily implies the transport of a charged ion (in this case CH3Hg ) through the membrane, this fact can help to explain why a preferential target of methylmercury are nerve cells, whose plasma me...