[The toxic effect of methylmercuric chloride on the organism in light of research on the hematopoietic system and metabolism of carbohydrates and lipids in heart and liver].

The purpose of our experiments was to demonstrate possible changes in the activities of the hematopoietic system and the metabolism of the cardiac muscle and liver in the condition of the subacute poisoning with the methylmercuric acid. The tests were performed on 310 rats. The animals were administered the methylmercuric chloride per os in three different doses during three weeks. The activity of the hematopoietic system was analysed on the basis of selected factors concerning the erythrocytic system (the number of reticulocytes and erythrocytes, hematocrit, hemoglobin concentration and the osmotic resistance of erythrocytes), the leukocytic system (number, percentage composition and the osmotic resistance of leukocytes), and the thrombocytes. The alterations in the cardiac muscle and the liver were analysed on the basis of selected elements of the carbohydrate and lipid metabolisms. The indicators of the carbohydrate metabolism were glycogen, pyruvic, lactic, and citric acids. For the lipid metabolism we determined the concentration of free fatty acids, triglycerides, cholesterol and phospholipids. A tendency to increase the minimum osmotic resistance of erythrocytes appeared under the influence of the methylmercuric chloride, probably as a result of the binding between the absorbed methylmercury with lipids and with the proteins of the erythrocyte cell membranes. As to the percentage composition of leukocytes, we observed the reduction of the number of eosinophils in the peripheral blood. The rats poisoned with the methylmercuric chloride reacted to the administered foreign toxic substance with the excitation of their reticuloendothelial systems which was demonstrated by a very clear increase of the reticular cells number. We found a reduction of the content of the basic energy substrate in the cardiac muscle, i.e. the free fatty acids, with the parallel increase of triglyceride concentration. The reductions of the glycogen and lactic acid concentrations were observed primarily in the carbohydrate metabolism of the heart. Similar changes in the methylmercuric chloride poisoning were found in the liver. Also here the methylmercuric chloride caused the reduction of the glycogen and lactic acid concentrations as well as the reduction of the number of free fatty acids and the increase of the triglyceride concentration. The results of the above experiments show that the methylmercuric chloride did not distort considerably the activities of the hematopoietic system and the observed changes were not extensive. In both tested tissues we identified biochemical changes that can indicate the changes in the carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in both organs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)