Behavior of inorganic mercury and selenium in insoluble fractions of rabbit tissues after simultaneous administration.

The existing states of mercury and selenium in the insoluble fractions of perfused rabbit liver and kidney were studied by gel filtration on Sephadex G-200 at 24 h after i.v. injection of mercuric chloride and/or sodium selenite. After simultaneous injection of mercuric chloride and selenite, both mercury and selenium existed in a high-molecular weight (HMW) fraction of the liver-insoluble fraction at a molar ratio of 1:1, there was little change in gel filtration pattern of the kidney-insoluble fraction. Equimolar amounts of mercury and selenium existed in each subcellular fraction of rabbit liver. Most of the mercury and selenium accumulated in the rabbit liver, not only those in the soluble fraction but also those in the insoluble fraction, appeared to co-exist in the HMW fraction at a molar ratio of 1:1 at 24 h after simultaneous administration.