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Animal Source Foods
Published in Chuong Pham-Huy, Bruno Pham Huy, Food and Lifestyle in Health and Disease, 2022
Chuong Pham-Huy, Bruno Pham Huy
Mercury is a heavy, liquid metal emitted from natural sources (volcanoes and some ores) and human sources from industrial wastes. From the atmosphere, mercury cycles from rainwater into lakes and oceans, where it is converted by microbial activity into organic methylmercury (32). Mercury in fish exists in the form of methylmercury (CH3-Hg)+ which is a fat-soluble organic compound and highly toxic for the human central nervous system. Inorganic mercury liquid (for example, from ancient thermometers) is poorly absorbed following ingestion, and elemental mercury does not readily cross tissue barriers (32). In contrast, methylmercury is readily absorbed and actively transported into tissues, then accumulated in the brain and nerves. Methylmercury causes neuropathy (ataxia, numbness, paralysis, coma, death) in humans and mammals like cats, but is not toxic in fish and shellfish except for in very high doses (32). Methylmercury can cross the placenta, and fetal exposure correlates with maternal exposure. The famous poisoning of methylmercury by eating fish contaminated from industrial wastes is called Minamata disease or syndrome (11, 31–32).
Diseases of the Nervous System
Published in George Feuer, Felix A. de la Iglesia, Molecular Biochemistry of Human Disease, 2020
George Feuer, Felix A. de la Iglesia
A special case of chronic mercury intoxication characterizes the Minamata disease.388,558,567 This was noted in villages near Minamata Bay in Japan. This disorder is manifested by symptoms of peripheral neuropathy, cerebellar ataxia, loss of hearing and sight, and occasionally, development of progressive encephalopathy. In fatal cases, neuronal damage was found in the cerebral cortex and in the granular cell layer of the cerebellum. The cause of this condition was the ingestion of fish contaminated with methylmercury salts378,534 derived from effluent of a fertilizer factory containing inorganic mercury. The inorganic mercury is converted to methylmercury by planktons and this way the toxic hazard became biomagnified. Plankton is taken up up by fish and through the food chain eating methylmercury contaminated fish, toxicity is manifested in man representing the epidemic outbreak of Minamata disease.1,234 A similar syndrome has been reported among Canadian Indians whose main staple was fish.599
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Published in Anton Sebastian, A Dictionary of the History of Medicine, 2018
Minamata Disease (Syn: Kyko) Mysterious neurological illness which affected Japanese fisherman on the west coast of Kyushu in 1953. It was later identified to be due to contamination of fish by mercurial waste products from a factory.
Mercurius solubilis attenuates scopolamine-induced memory deficits and enhances the motor coordination in mice
Published in International Journal of Neuroscience, 2018
Simranjeet Kaur, Anudeep Kaur, Gurjit Singh, Rajbir Bhatti
Studies have revealed that treatment with 30X and 200X potencies of merc sol ameliorate the deleterious effects of mercuric chloride [17]. Mercuric chloride is an alarming environmental contaminant with severe health risks. Accidental and chronic exposure to mercury compounds is documented to participate in severe health hazards including minamata disease that is due to exposure of methyl mercury [35]. Post-mortem analysis of brain regions and blood of some patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been shown to reveal high mercury concentrations [36]. Studies have shown that immunosuppression is also caused by exposure to mercury [8]. Mercurius treatment has been reported to improve lack of cognition and concentration and behavioural impairment in several case reports [37].
Parental and preimaginal exposure to methylmercury disrupts locomotor activity and circadian rhythm of adult Drosophila melanogaster
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2020
Thaís Doeler Algarve, Charles Elias Assmann, Toshiro Aigaki, Ivana Beatrice Mânica da Cruz
Some epidemiological and experimental evidence has suggested that developmental neurotoxicity by exposure to pollutant agents causes brain damage and neurodevelopmental disorders (Grandjean and Landrigan 2014). This is the case of methylmercury (MeHg), which was the causative agent of Minamata disease in infants that were born during the period of severe MeHg pollution from 1955 to 1959 (Sakamoto et al.2017). Despite the evidence of the strong negative impact of MeHg on human and animal health, this exposure may never be totally interrupted due to constant Hg release by deforestation, industry, agriculture, and medicine use (Mainville et al.2006, Wasserman et al.2007, Park and Zheng 2012, Kern et al.2016).