Developmental changes in the biliary excretion of methylmercury and glutathione.

The long half-time for methylmercury in the neonatal rats is explained by the neonatal liver's inability to secrete the toxin into bile, which in adults is the main route of elimination. The ability to secrete mercury into bile develops between 2 and 4 weeks of age and is correlated with the increasing ability of the developing liver to secrete glutathione into bile.