Eto Komyo, Takahashi Hitoshi, Kakita Akiyoshi, Tokunaga Hidehiro, Yasutake Akira, Nakano Atsuhiro, Sawada Masumi, Kinjo Yoshihide
f National Institute for Minamata Disease, 4058-18 Hama, Minamata City, Kumamoto 867-0008, Japan.
Nihon Eiseigaku Zasshi. 2007 Jan;62(1):70-88.
To reevaluate pathologically and biochemically 30 autopsy cases related to Minamata disease (MD) in Niigata Prefecture (NP) and compare the findings with those of autopsy cases related to MD in Kumamoto Prefecture (KP).
Recently, a set of pathological materials of these 30 autopsy cases has been sent from the Brain Research Institute at the University of Niigata to the National Institute for Minamata Disease (NIMD). The materials from each autopsy case were reexamined at the NIMD.
There were no postnatal and fetal cases of MD in the NP autopsy materials. The contents of total mercury (T-Hg), methylmercury (Me-Hg), inorganic mercury (I-Hg) and selenium were measured in the organs of cerebrum, cerebellum, liver and kidney. The contents of T-Hg, Me-Hg and I-Hg were much higher in two cases than in controls. The pathological findings leading to the diagnosis of MD in the NP cases were essentially the same as those in KP, including the peripheral nerve lesions. In the most severely affected case of MD in NP, formation of multiple vacuoles of various sizes was observed in the cerebellar cortex, which was never encountered in the KP cases. The KP lesions were similar to that observed in an acute case of Me-Hg-treated common marmoset studied in the NIMD.
The pathological features were essentially the same between the adult cases of MD in NP and KP.
对新潟县30例与水俣病相关的尸检病例进行病理和生化重新评估，并将结果与熊本县水俣病尸检病例的结果进行比较。
最近，这30例尸检病例的一组病理材料已从新潟大学脑研究所送至水俣病国立研究所。水俣病国立研究所对每个尸检病例的材料进行了重新检查。
新潟县尸检材料中没有产后和胎儿水俣病病例。测量了大脑、小脑、肝脏和肾脏器官中的总汞（T-Hg）、甲基汞（Me-Hg）、无机汞（I-Hg）和硒的含量。两例中T-Hg、Me-Hg和I-Hg的含量远高于对照组。新潟县病例中导致水俣病诊断的病理结果与熊本县基本相同，包括周围神经病变。在新潟县受水俣病影响最严重的病例中，在小脑皮质观察到多个大小不一的空泡形成，这在熊本县病例中从未见过。熊本县的病变与在水俣病国立研究所研究的一例急性甲基汞处理普通狨猴中观察到的病变相似。
新潟县和熊本县成人水俣病病例的病理特征基本相同。
