Behavior and interaction of methylmercury and selenium in rabbit blood

Behavior of methylmercury and selenium in rabbit blood was investigated in vitro or in vivo after separate or simultaneous administration of methylmercuric chloride and sodium selenite. When methylmercury and selenite were simultaneously added in vitro to rabbit blood, the rate of mercury uptake by the erythrocytes was very rapid in comparison with the case where methylmercury was added alone, and a considerable degree of selenium incorporation into the erythrocytes, which usually occurred at the early stage of incubation after sole addition of selenite, was not observed. These tendencies appeared to be similar to those observed in the blood of rabbit which was i. v. administered with methylmercury and selenite simultaneously. Either gel filtration (on Sephadex G-200 or G-15) or thin-layer chromatography, however, failed to detect any change in existing states of both the elements in plasma and stroma-free hemolysate after simultaneous in vivo or in vitro administration of methylmercury and selenite.