Mercury is an environmental contaminant of concern, particularly for fish eating populations. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of selenium, vitamin E, and phytate on methylmercury (MeHg) toxicity and kinetics in rats. Results show that increased selenium increases McHg in the liver, kidney, and frontal lobe of the brain, while increased vitamin E increases MeHg in the kidney but lowers McHg in the liver. Increased phytate resulted in a significant increase in MeHg in the frontal lobe. Methylmercury-treated rats on all diets showed an increased trend in muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR) binding in comparison with untreated rats. There was no change in monoamine oxidase (MAO) activities in all treatment groups. These results suggest that nutrients can alter the toxicokinetics of MeHg but none of them show clear protection in neurotoxicity in adult rats.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.101619 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Lye, Ellen Jane Davey. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition.) |
| Rights | © Ellen Jane Davey Lye, 2006 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002592784, proquestno: AAIMR32747, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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