Mercury Library

Thousands of articles have appeared in scientific journals around the world about the impact of mercury on the human body. Excerpts and reviews of these articles are available on PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from Medline and other life science journals for biomedical articles dating back to the 1950s.

• Mercury and the Brain

• Mercury and the Heart

• Mercury and the Immune System

• Mercury and the Nervous System

• Mercury as it affects Hormones and Sexuality

• Mercury and the Gastrointestinal System

• Mercury and Emotions

• Mercury and General Health

Mercury and the Brain

Dementia Associated With Toxic Causes and Autoimmune Disease

Schofield P.Neuropsychiatry Service, Hunter Area Health and University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. Toxic causes of dementia include exposure to heavy metals such as lead, mercury and aluminum as well as to carbon monoxide and solvents. Autoimmune conditions include such entities as multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Behcet's disease and Sjogren's syndrome....

» Read More

Needham LL, Barr DB, Caudill SP, Pirkle JL, Turner WE, Osterloh J, Jones RL,Sampson EJOrganic Analytical Toxicology Branch, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA. Humans are exposed to many environmental chemicals, some of which can potentially affect neurodevelopment. Fetuses, infants, and young children are...

» Read More

Crespo-Lopez ME, Herculano AM, Corvelo TC, Do Nascimento JL.Laboratorio de Biologia Celular, Universidade Federal do Para, Belem, Brazil. INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Mercury is a metal that is widely used in hundreds of applications nowadays. This metal has proved to be extremely toxic in humans, especially for the central nervous system,...

» Read More

Zheng W, Aschner M, Ghersi-Egea JF.School of Health Sciences, Purdue University, USA. The concept of brain barriers or a brain barrier system embraces the blood-brain interface, referred to as the blood-brain barrier, and the blood-cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) interface, referred to as the blood-CSF barrier. These brain barriers protect the CNS...

» Read More

Danscher G, Stoltenberg M, Juhl S.Steno Institute, Department of Neurobiology, University of Aarhus, Denmark. Gold, silver, mercury and zinc bind chemically to sulphide or selenide ions and create crystal lattices that can be detected in histological sections by a silver amplification technique called autometallography (AMG). The technique specifically magnifies such nanometer-sized...

» Read More

Fonnum F, Lock EA.Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, Norway. The Purkinje cells and the granule cells are the most important targets in cerebellum for toxic substances. The Purkinje cells are among the largest neuron in the brain and are very sensitive to ischaemia, bilirubin, ethanol and diphenylhydantoin. The granule cells are...

» Read More

Tjalve H, Henriksson J.Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. In the olfactory epithelium the dendrites of the primary olfactory neurons are in contact with the nasal lumen, and via the axons these neurons are also connected to the olfactory bulbs of the brain. Materials...

» Read More

Needleman HL.Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, USA.The new fields of behavioral toxicology and behavioral teratology investigate the outcome of specific toxic exposures in humans and animals on learning, memory, and behavioral characteristics. Three important classes of behavioral neurotoxicants are metals, solvents, and pesticides. The clearest data on the deleterious...

» Read More

Schantz, SL, Widholm JJ.Department of Veterinary Biosciences and Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. A large number of chemical pollutants including phthalates, alkylphenolic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated dibenzodioxins, organochlorine pesticides, bisphenol A, and metals including lead, mercury, and cadmium have the ability to disrupt endocrine function in...

» Read More

Rodier PM.Department of OB/GYN, University of Rochester, USA.The human brain forms over an unusually long period compared to other organs. While most of the basic structure is laid down before birth, neuron proliferation and migration continue in the postnatal period. The blood-brain barrier is not fully developed until the middle...

» Read More

El-Fawal HA, Waterman SJ, De Feo A, Shamy MY.Pharmacology and Toxicology Laboratory, Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY, USA. The interactions between the nervous and immune systems have been recognized in the development of neurodegenerative disease. This can be exploited through detection of the immune response to autoantigens in assessing the...

» Read More

Michael E. Godfrey, Damian P. Wojcik, Cheryl A. Krone Abstract: Apolipoprotein-E (apo-E) genotyping has been investigated as an indicator of susceptibility to heavy metal (i.e., lead) neurotoxicity. Moreover, the apo-E epsilon (e)4 allele is a major risk factor for neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). A theoretical biochemical basis for this...

» Read More

Mercury and the Heart

Mercury, Fish, Fish Oil and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Landmark K, Aursnes I.Institutt for farmakoterapi, Oslo, Norway BACKGROUND: Several clinical studies have documented that intake of fish may reduce mortality from coronary heart disease, and two epidemiological investigations have shown a 50% reduction in the incidence of sudden death and of "primary cardiac arrest" in subjects eating fish. However, in...

» Read More

Chan HM, Egeland GM.Centre for Indigenous Peoples' Nutrition and Environment, School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, McGill University, Canada There is increasing concern regarding methylmercury exposure in populations that consume large amounts of fish. This situation poses a dilemma for those who choose to consume fish for its beneficial effects...

» Read More

Foster HD.Department of Geography, University of Victoria, CanadaCancer and heart disease display spatial patterns that suggest the possible involvement of calcium and selenium deficiencies and mercury excess in their aetiologies. As a consequence, longevity tends to be most common in regions where the environment is calcium- and selenium-enriched but contains...

» Read More

Mercury and the Immune System

Mechanisms of Heavy Metal-Induced Autoimmunity

Rowley B, Monestier M.Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Temple University School of Medicine, USA. Chemical exposure can trigger or accelerate the development of autoimmune manifestations. Although heavy metals are elementary chemical structures, they can have profound and complex effects on the immune system. In genetically susceptible mice or rats, administration of...

» Read More

Havarinasab S, Hultman P.Molecular and Immunological Pathology (AIR), Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Linkoping University, Sweden. Based on in vitro studies and short-term in vivo studies, all mercurials were for a long time considered as prototypic immunosuppressive substances. Recent studies have confirmed that organic mercurials such as methyl mercury (MeHg)...

» Read More

Hess EV.Division of Immunology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, USA. Many important clues have been provided by the relationship of certain medications to lupus and other autoimmune syndromes. These are temporary conditions that resolve when the medication is removed. There are now over 70 such medications which have been...

» Read More

Lawrence DA,  McCabe MJ Jr.Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology and Immunology, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, USA. Occupational or environmental exposure to metals is believed to affect human health adversely. One mechanism whereby metals can alter health is through modulation of immune homeostasis. Imbalances in immune...

» Read More

Sweet LI, Zelikoff JT.Department of Environmental and Industrial Health, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, USA. This review addresses an important area of environmental and mammalian toxicology by evaluating and comparing mercury-induced effects upon the immune responses of two evolutionarily divergent yet immunologically-related species. The mechanisms of mercury toxicology...

» Read More

Fournie GJ, Mas M, Cautain B, Savignac M, Subra JF, Pelletier L, Saoudi A, Lagrange D, Calise M, Druet P.Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM) U28, Institut Federatif de Recherche (IFR) 30, Hopital Purpan and Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France. Autoreactive T cells exist in...

» Read More

Bagenstose LM, Salgame P,  Monestier MDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, USA. Human exposure to certain compounds or therapeutic drugs can result in the development of an autoimmune syndrome. Mercury (Hg) induced autoimmunity is one of the few animal models in which administration of a chemical...

» Read More

Mercury and the Nervous System

Abraham Lincoln's Blue Pills: Did Our 16th President Suffer From Mercury Poisoning?

Hirschhorn N; Feldman RG; Greaves IA, Boston University School of Medicine, USA. It is well known that Abraham Lincoln took a medicine called “blue mass” or “blue pill,” commonly described in the 19th century.  What is now hardly known is that the main ingredient of blue mass was finely dispersed...

» Read More

Mercury as it affects Hormones and Sexuality

Effect of Occupational Exposure to Elemental Mercury in the Amalgam on Thymulin Hormone Production Among Dental Staff

Farahat SA, Rashed LA, Zawilla NH, Farouk SMDepartment of Occupational Diseases and Industrial Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, EgypOccupational exposure of dental staff to elemental mercury vapor released from dental amalgam is an issue of concern because of the possible immunological and neurological adverse outcomes. Recently, studies have...

» Read More

Mercury and the Gastrointestinal System

Cytokine Regulation of a Rodent Model of Mercuric Chloride-Induced Autoimmunity

Bagenstose LM, Salgame P, Monestier M.Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Temple University School of Medicine, USA. Experimental models of chemically induced autoimmunity have contributed to our understanding of the development of autoimmune diseases in humans. Heavy metals such as mercury induce a dramatic activation of the immune system and autoantibody production...

» Read More

Mercury and Emotions

Defensive Characteristics In Individuals With Amalgam Illness As Measured By The Percept-genetic Method Defence Mechanism Test

Henningsson M & Sundbom E.ABSTRACT: Twenty patients complaining of symptoms deriving from their amalgam fillings and a non-patient group were assessed by means of the perceptual projective Defense Mechanism Test (DMT). The test protocols were scored for 130 DMT variables and analyzed by means of the multivariate statistical method Partial...

» Read More

Mercury and Reproduction

Asians have tougher time getting pregnant with IVF--Mercury May Have Impact

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In-vitro fertilization (IVF) is apt to be more successful in white women than in Asian women, a study suggests.Women of Asian descent were 29 percent less likely than their Caucasian counterparts to become pregnant after IVF, Dr. Karen Purcell of Fertility Physicians of Northern California...

» Read More

Mercury and General Health

Heavy Metal Poisoning

From Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine Author: Howard Hu, M.D. Professor of Occupational & Environmental Medicine Harvard School of Public Health Metals constitute a major category of toxins that pose a significant threat to health through occupational as well as environmental exposures. One indication of their importance relative to other...

» Read More

OVERVIEW: These web pages review results of animal and human studies of the pathophysiologic effects related to mercury leaking from dental amalgam fillings. Some pertinent points presented include: every amalgam daily releases on the order of 10 micrograms of mercury into the body (i.e. 3,000,000,000,000,000 mercury atoms per day), more...

» Read More