INTRACELLULAR DISTRIBUTION OF MERCURY IN AVIAN TISSUES

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Abstract
Meal from mercury-contaminated fish was used to prepare diets containing from 0.1 to 3.9 ppm mercury. These diets were fed to 1-day-old chicks for a period of 4 wk. The intracellular distribution of mercury and the ability of methionine and pantothenic acid to reduce mercury uptake by tissues was studied. Addition of methionine and pantothenic acid to diets containing approximately 0.8 ppm mercury did not reduce the amount of mercury that entered liver or kidney cells. The mercury concentration in liver, kidney, and brain showed a nearly linear response to the levels of mercury in the diet. The concentrations of mercury in nuclear, mitochondrial, microsomal, and cytoplasmic preparations obtained by cellular fractionation of these tissues also showed a linear response to the dietary mercury levels. Of the mercury in the tissue, 80% was found in the cytoplasmic fraction. Of the cytoplasmic mercury, 40–60% was bound to protein.

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