Effect of methylmercury on the activity of glutathione peroxidase in rat liver.

The effect of methylmercury on the activity of glutathione peroxidase in rat liver was studied in vivo. A daily dose of 10mg methylmercuric chloride/kg body weight was administered subcutaneously to 15 male Wistar rats for 10 days, and the glutathione peroxidase activity in the liver was measured to compare with the control activity. A marked decrease was observed in the glutathione peroxidase activity in the experimental animals, which measured as low as 40% in comparison to that in the control animals. It can be speculated that the inhibition of glutathione peroxidase activity plays a significant role in the development of mercury toxicity and that the protective effect of selenium and vitamin E on the mercury intoxication might be partly due to preserving the glutathione peroxidase activity in the antioxidative defense mechanisms.