Changes in the distribution of histochemically localized mercury in the CNS and in tissue levels of organic and inorganic mercury during the development of intoxication in methylmercury treated rats.

The development of neurotoxicity in rats after exposure to methylmercuric chloride was monitored using behavioural indices. At selected time points the cellular localization of mercury and the relative amounts of organic and inorganic mercury were determined in several regions of the CNS, and in some non-neural tissues. The CNS showed an affinity for organic mercury, the levels of inorganic mercury remaining low throughout symptomatic intoxication. Histopathological changes were not closely related to the regional tissue content of the organic or inorganic forms, nor to mercury localized histochemically at the cellular level. The stained deposits, which had focal cytoplasmic distribution, appeared in glial cells initially then in larger neurones as the intoxication progressed. These observations may represent changes in the mercury content of different cell types or reflect differences in the way that they handle a similar burden of mercury. A transitory accumulation of mercury in glial cells may be a factor contributing to the occurrence of a latent period and sequestration of mercury in cytoplasmic organelles may serve to protect some cell types from injury.