Problems on Excess of Inorganic Chemical Compounds for Mankind
Jul Låg in Geomedicine, 2017
Well-known examples of metal-contaminated soil or sediments leading to serious health problems for a large group of people are known (e.g. Japan). The outbreak of the Itai-itai disease with skeletal dysfunction and renal injury was due to the ingestion of cadmium-containing rice grown on contaminated soil.17 The Minamata disease, which is caused by methyl mercury, is characterized by overt clinical symptoms from the central and peripheral nervous system and, in severe cases, death occurred. This outbreak was the result of severe industrial contamination of the river and Minamata bay with methyl mercury and other mercury compounds. Methyl mercury, biomethylated in the sediment, accumulated in fish and other seafoods used for human consumption.23 Although soil in the vicinity of cadmium-emitting industries has been contaminated with cadmium, and certain lakes and areas contain methyl mercury contaminated fish in the Western industrialized world, such large outbreaks have not occurred partly because food consumption is more diverse and does not rely solely on locally produced food. There has also been a recent general awareness of such problems after these outbreaks.
Diseases of the Nervous System
George Feuer, Felix A. de la Iglesia in Molecular Biochemistry of Human Disease, 2020
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
Animal Source Foods
Chuong Pham-Huy, Bruno Pham Huy in Food and Lifestyle in Health and Disease, 2022
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).
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).
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