Toxic agents mercury

There are several such toxic agents that cause considerable medical, public and political concern. Two examples are discussed here the heavy metal ions (e.g. lead, mercury, copper, cadmium) and the fluorophosphonates. Heavy metal ions readily form complexes with organic compounds which are lipid soluble so that they readily enter cells, where the ions bind to amino acid groups in the active site of enzymes. These two types of inhibitors are discussed in Boxes 3.5 and 3.6. There is also concern that some chemicals in the environment, (e.g. those found in industrial effluents, rubbish tips and agricultural sprays), although present at very low levels, can react with enhanced reactivity groups in enzymes. Consequently, only minute amounts concentrations are effective inhibitors and therefore can be toxic. It is suggested that they are responsible for some non-specific or even specific diseases (e.g. breast tumours). 

Endogenous substances other than metallothionein may be involved in minimizing the effects of heavy metals and excreting them from the body. Hepatic (liver) glutathione, discussed as a phase II conjugating agent in Section 7.4, plays a role in the excretion of several metals in bile. These include the essential metals copper and zinc toxic cadmium, mercury(II), and lead(II) ions and organometallic methyl mercury. 

The disadvantages of mercurials for antiseptic and disinfectant uses far outweigh any pos.siblc advantages that they might have. Hence, other more effective and lc.ss potentially toxic agents are preferable. 

Haemodialysis can be used when renal fimction has declined after severe mercury toxicity. As mercury redistributes itself between red blood cells and plasma, haemodialysis is more effective if L-cysteine is added as a chelating agent, since the free thiol group combines with mercury and so removes Hg ions from the system. 

Protein synthesis is the primary synthetic function of neurons. Toxic agents that inter-ngit essential protein synthesis (e.g., mercury) often cause a slowly developiifg neuro-hmicosis as essential proteins are catabolized without being replaced. 

Of the 110 or so elements there are only about 22 which occur naturally in biological systems. The use of therapeutic agents introduces about another half dozen. In earlier centuries before the advent of selective antimicrobial agents the use of the toxic elements mercury and antimony was very popular to treat the then, more or less, incurable diseases of syphilis and malaria. If a cure was effective it was often a pretty close tun thing with its opposite. 

Fire Hazards - Flash Poitu Not flammable Flammable Limits in Air (%) Not flammable Fire Extinguishing Agents Not pertinent Fire Extinguishing Agents Not To Be Used Not pertinent Special Hazards of Combustion Products Smoke may contain toxic mercury or mercury oxide fumes Behavior in Fire Not pertinent Ignition Temperature Not pertinent Electrical Hazard Not pertinent Burning Rate Not pertinent. 

The widespread use of many metals such as silver, cadmium, copper, mercury, nickel, lead, and zinc has resulted in their accumulation in the environment. Sediments are often the repositories of toxic metals (e.g.. Table 15-2). For example, copper is used as an anti-biofouling agent in marine paints and many harbor sediments contain markedly elevated levels of copper. 

Chemical reduction is used to transform a toxic substance with a higher valence to a nontoxic or less-toxic substance with lower valence. The most promising application is the reduction of hexava-lent chromium to trivalent chromium. This method is also applicable to other multivalent metals such as lead and mercury. Commonly used chemical agents for this purpose are sulfite salts, sulfur dioxide, and base metals (e.g., iron and aluminum).22 24... 

Other applications dealt with the development of a luciferin ester substrate to measure the luciferase activity in living cells [141], the detection of toxic compounds such as sodium azide, fluoroacetic acid, and antibiotics [142], the development of a biosensor for the determination of bioavailable mercury [143], the use of eukaryotic luciferases as bacterial markers with different colors of luminescence [144], the determination of complement-mediated killing of bacteria [145], and the development of a bioassay for the determination of HIV type 1 virus and HIV-1 Tat protein activity, valuable also for analysis of HlV-inhibi-tory agents [146],... 

In addition to the chemicals included on the other lists, the CDC also included heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury volatile solvents such as benzene, chloroform, and bromoform decomposition products such as dioxins and furans polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) flammable industrial gases and liquids such as gasoline and propane explosives and oxidizers and all persistent and nonpersistent pesticides. Agents included in this volume are limited to those that are most likely to pose an acute toxicity hazard. 

---