INCREASED BRAIN UPTAKE OF MERCURY INDUCED BY 2,3-DIMERCAPTO-PROPANOL (BAL) IN MICE EXPOSED TO PHENYLMERCURIC ACETATE

¹ Institute of Hygiene, Karolinska Institutet, and the Department of General Hygiene, National Institute of Public Health Stockholm, Sweden

The effect of BAL (0.4 mg/kg) on the body distribution of mercury in mice given a single dose of phenyl-Hg²⁰³ acetate (0.5 mg of Hg/kg) was studied by autoradiography of sagittal whole-body sections. It was shown that BAL effected a redistribution of the body mercury load; this included a persistent increase in mercury concentration in brain, liver and muscle, and a transient decrease in the kidney, for the 16-day period studied.

A second series of mice was given daily injections of phenyl-Hg²⁰³ acetate (1 mg of Hg/kg) for 16 days; half also got 3 mg of BAL/kg daily. Scintillation counts of brains of BAL-treated mice showed twice as much radioactivity after 16 days as in brains of control animals.

If the object in treatment of chronic phenylmercuric poisoning is to diminish brain mercury load, the use of BAL must be re-examined.