Mercury metabolism in Japanese quail. I. The effect of dietary mercury and selenium on their tissue distribution.

Immature and adult coturnix quail were fed isolated soybean protein diets to which methylmercuric chloride or mercuric chloride were added with or without supplemental selenium for seven days. Samples of brain, blood, liver, and kidney were analyzed for total mercury and selenium via atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Selenium addition had no effect on the mercury concentration in kidney, brain, or blood but did tend to increase the concentration of mercury in the livers of the methylmercuric chloride-treated birds. Selenium in the presence of methylmercury increased the selenium concentration of liver and kidney but had little effect on the selenium concentration of brain or blood. Methylmercuric chloride supplementation resulted in increased selenium concentration in the blood of the selenium supplemented group. All other tissue selenium levels were unaffected by the addition of mercury.