Methylmercury impairs canonical dopamine metabolism in rat undifferentiated pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells by indirect inhibition of aldehyde dehydrogenase.

The environmental neurotoxicant methylmercury (MeHg) disrupts dopamine (DA) neurochemical homeostasis by stimulating DA synthesis and release. Evidence also suggests that DA metabolism is independently impaired. The present investigation was designed to characterize the DA metabolomic profile induced by MeHg, and examine potential mechanisms by which MeHg inhibits the DA metabolic enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) in rat undifferentiated PC12 cells. MeHg decreases the intracellular concentration of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC). This is associated with a concomitant increase in intracellular concentrations of the intermediate metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylaldehyde (DOPAL) and the reduced metabolic product 3,4-dihydroxyethanol. This metabolomic profile is consistent with inhibition of ALDH, which catalyzes oxidation of DOPAL to DOPAC. MeHg does not directly impair ALDH enzymatic activity, however MeHg depletes cytosolic levels of the ALDH cofactor NAD(+), which could contribute to impaired ALDH activity following exposure to MeHg. The observation that MeHg shunts DA metabolism along an alternative metabolic pathway and leads to the accumulation of DOPAL, a reactive species associated with protein and DNA damage, as well as cell death, is of significant consequence. As a specific metabolite of DA, the observed accumulation of DOPAL provides evidence for a specific mechanism by which DA neurons may be selectively vulnerable to MeHg.