TY - JOUR
T1 - Health impacts and biomarkers of prenatal exposure to methylmercury
T2 - Lessons from Minamata, Japan
AU - Sakamoto, Mineshi
AU - Tatsuta, Nozomi
AU - Izumo, Kimiko
AU - Phan, Phuong Thanh
AU - Vu, Loi Duc
AU - Yamamoto, Megumi
AU - Nakamura, Masaaki
AU - Nakai, Kunihiko
AU - Murata, Katsuyuki
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by the authors.
PY - 2018/8/3
Y1 - 2018/8/3
N2 - The main chemical forms of mercury are elemental mercury, inorganic divalent mercury, and methylmercury, which are metabolized in different ways and have differing toxic effects in humans. Among the various chemical forms of mercury, methylmercury is known to be particularly neurotoxic, and was identified as the cause of Minamata disease. It bioaccumulates in fish and shellfish via aquatic food webs, and fish and sea mammals at high trophic levels exhibit high mercury concentrations. Most human methylmercury exposure occurs through seafood consumption. Methylmercury easily penetrates the blood-brain barrier and so can affect the nervous system. Fetuses are known to be at particularly high risk of methylmercury exposure. In this review, we summarize the health effects and exposure assessment of methylmercury as follows: (1) methylmercury toxicity, (2) history and background of Minamata disease, (3) methylmercury pollution in the Minamata area according to analyses of preserved umbilical cords, (4) changes in the sex ratio in Minamata area, (5) neuropathology in fetuses, (6) kinetics of methylmercury in fetuses, (7) exposure assessment in fetuses.
AB - The main chemical forms of mercury are elemental mercury, inorganic divalent mercury, and methylmercury, which are metabolized in different ways and have differing toxic effects in humans. Among the various chemical forms of mercury, methylmercury is known to be particularly neurotoxic, and was identified as the cause of Minamata disease. It bioaccumulates in fish and shellfish via aquatic food webs, and fish and sea mammals at high trophic levels exhibit high mercury concentrations. Most human methylmercury exposure occurs through seafood consumption. Methylmercury easily penetrates the blood-brain barrier and so can affect the nervous system. Fetuses are known to be at particularly high risk of methylmercury exposure. In this review, we summarize the health effects and exposure assessment of methylmercury as follows: (1) methylmercury toxicity, (2) history and background of Minamata disease, (3) methylmercury pollution in the Minamata area according to analyses of preserved umbilical cords, (4) changes in the sex ratio in Minamata area, (5) neuropathology in fetuses, (6) kinetics of methylmercury in fetuses, (7) exposure assessment in fetuses.
KW - Fetus; exposure assessment
KW - Kinetics
KW - Methylmercury
KW - Toxicity
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U2 - 10.3390/toxics6030045
DO - 10.3390/toxics6030045
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85056389755
VL - 6
JO - Toxics
JF - Toxics
SN - 2305-6304
IS - 3
M1 - 45
ER -