Mercury treatment

Divalent mercury in rats has been reported to poorly penetrate the blood-brain barrier [23], However, there is an impairment of the blood-brain barrier within hours after mercury treatment [24, 25], By means of autoradiographic techniques, it was demonstrated [26] that after a single intravenous injection of labelled mercuric chloride, large portions of the radioactive mercury were detected in the cerebellar grey matter, area postrema, hypothalamus and areas near the lateral ventricle of mice. 

T0539 Monntain States R D International, Inc., MSRDI Combination Technology Mercury Treatment System... 

MSRDI Combination Technology Mercury Treatment System Abstract... 

A 1995 evaluation prepared by MSRDI and the Gas Research Institute (GRI) estimates that the capital costs for a portable MSRDI combination technology mercury treatment system would be approximately 400,000. Direct operating costs for a portable system controlled by two technicians and a supervisor were estimated to be 1600 per day of operation, assuming a treatment rate of 2 to 4 tons of contaminated material per day per site. Overall operating costs were estimated to range from 400 to 800 per ton, per site, including mobilization and demobilization costs (D16195P, p. 35). 

Classical methods of group analysis and separation take advantage of the stability of the [Ag(NH3)2]+ ion to separate silver from mercury. Treatment of a precipitate containing AgCl with dilute ammonia leads to the reaction in equation (3) bringing the silver into solution. To confirm the presence of Ag+, nitric acid must then be added to cause reprecipitation of AgQ. In aqueous ammonia, the diammine was the highest species formed, and thermodynamic data for its formation are collected in Table 3.20-23... 

Additional biochemical studies on the interaction of selenium and mercury were performed by Chung et al (1982). Treatment of rats with mercuric chloride caused decreases in the activity of the enzymes of the glutathione metabolism pathway in kidney of 25-60% and decreases in the concentration of reduced glutathione. When rats were treated with equimolar amounts of selenite 30 min after mercury treatment, the depressions in both the activity of these enzymes and the level of glutathione were blocked. The decrease in reduced glutathione level by mercury is probably a reflection of an influence on selenium metabolism, since the glutathione cycle has been shown to be affected by the selenium status of animals (Burk, 1983). 

Mercury elicits the synthesis of stress proteins in vitro and in vivo. A comparison of mercury-induced stress proteins shows they vary from heat-induced proteins and these differences may partially be determined by the experimental system. Bournias-Vardiabasis et al. (1990) reported that the spectrum of proteins induced in Drosophila embryonic cells were identical after heat or mercury treatment. In contrast, yeast cells Candida albicans) exposed to mercury induced the synthesis of three stress proteins, only one of which corresponded in molecular mass to a major hsp. 

Fig. 1. Representative SDS-PAGE profiles of S-methionine-labeled rat kidney and liver proteins from controls (Oh) and 4h after exposure to CdCl2 (2mgCd/kg, i.v.) and HgCl2 (ImgHg/kg, i.v.). Samples were applied to gels at 60000cpm per lane. Molecular weights of protein standards are indicated (xlOOO). All gels were 12.5% acrylamide except the mercury-liver gel, which was an 8%-25% gradient gel. De novo synthesis of 70-, 90-, and 100-kDa proteins (solid arrows) and inhibition of synthesis of 68- and 38-kDa proteins (hollow arrows) were observed. Changes in protein synthesis were observed in liver, but not kidney, after cadmium treatment, and in kidney, but not liver, after mercury treatment...

Antibacterial complexes such as silver sulfadiazene and some mercurials also manifest antiviral activity [51, 52]. Mersalyl, a diuretic (Chapter 12), has some in vivo action when mice treated with lethal doses of coxsackie virus are then administered the mercury complex [53]. The levels needed for 100% inactivation in vitro by mercurials is dependent on the virus, and thiols reverse the antiviral effect [54]. Conformational changes and breakdown into subunits have also been observed after mercury treatment [51],... 

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