Reappraisal of the historic 1959 cat experiment in Minamata by the Chisso Factory

Synchrotron speciation of umbilical cord mercury and selenium after environmental exposure in Niigata

The insidious and deadly nature of mercury's organometallic compounds is informed by two large scale poisonings due to industrial mercury pollution that occurred decades ago in Minamata and Niigata, Japan. The present study examined chemical speciation for both mercury and selenium in a historic umbilical cord sample from a child born to a mother who lived near the Agano River in Niigata. The mother had experienced mercury exposure leading to more than 50 ppm mercury measured in her hair and was symptomatic 9 years prior to the birth. We sought to determine the mercury and selenium speciation in the child's cord using Hg Lα1 and Se Kα1 high-energy resolution fluorescence detected X-ray absorption spectroscopy, the chemical speciation of mercury was found to be predominantly organometallic and coordinated to a thiolate. The selenium was found to be primarily in an organic form and at levels higher than those of mercury, with no evidence of mercury-selenium chemical species. Our results are consistent with mercury exposure at Niigata being due to exposure to organometallic mercury species.

Pets, Genuine Tools of Environmental Pollutant Detection

In a shared environment, our companion animals became unintended sentinels for pollutant exposure consequences, developing even earlier similar conditions to humans. This review focused on the human-pet cohabitation in an environment we all share. Alongside other species, canine and feline companions are veritable models in human medical research. The latency period for showing chronic exposure effects to pollutants is just a few years in them, compared to considerably more, decades in humans. Comparing the serum values of people and their companion animals can, for example, indicate the degree of poisonous lead load we are exposed to and of other substances as well. We can find 2.4 times higher perfluorochemicals from stain- and grease-proof coatings in canine companions, 23 times higher values of flame retardants in cats, and 5 times more mercury compared to the average levels tested in humans. All these represent early warning signals. Taking these into account, together with the animal welfare orientation of today's society, finding non-invasive methods to detect the degree of environmental pollution in our animals becomes paramount, alongside the need to raise awareness of the risks carried by certain chemicals we knowingly use.

Ecological perspectives on water, food, and health security linkages: the Minamata case in Japan

Extant studies address water, food, and health security issues considerably separately and within narrow disciplinary confines. This study investigates the links among these three issues from an ecological viewpoint with a multidisciplinary approach in a modified Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework developed by the United Nations. The modified framework includes water, food, and health security considerations as the three constituents of human well-being from an ecological (more specifically, ecosystem services) viewpoint. This study examines the links through published data associated with the Minamata incident, which was a historic and horrific methylmercury-induced water, food, and health poisoning crisis in Japan. The results show that when heavy metal pollution changes one component (marine water) of the provisioning ecosystem services, this change subsequently affects another component (seafood) of the services. This then defines the linkages among water, food, and health security as the three constituents of human well-being within the modified framework. The links can have immediate and far-reaching economic, social, legal, ethical, and justice implications within and across generations. This study provides important evidence for emerging economies that ignore the water-food-health security nexus.

Rethinking the Minamata Tragedy: What Mercury Species Was Really Responsible?

Industrial release of mercury into the local Minamata environment with consequent poisoning of local communities through contaminated fish and shellfish consumption is considered the classic case of environmental mercury poisoning. However, the mercury species in the factory effluent has proved controversial, originally suggested as inorganic, and more recently as methylmercury species. We used newly available methods to re-examine the cerebellum of historic Cat 717, which was fed factory effluent mixed with food to confirm the source. Synchrotron high-energy-resolution fluorescence detection-X-ray absorption spectroscopy revealed sulfur-bound organometallic mercury with a minor β-HgS phase. Density functional theory indicated energetic preference for α-mercuri-acetaldehyde as a waste product of aldehyde production. The consequences of this alternative species in the "classic" mercury poisoning should be re-evaluated.

The pathology of methylmercury poisoning (Minamata disease): The 50th Anniversary of Japanese Society of Neuropathology

Methylmercury (Me-Hg) poisoning (Minamata disease: MD) is one of the most severe types of disease caused by humans to humans in Japan. The disease is a special class of food-borne methylmercury intoxication in humans as typified by the outbreak that began in 1953 in Minamata and its vicinity in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. There are 450 autopsy cases in Kumamoto and 30 autopsy cases in Niigata Prefecture related to MD in Japan. Two hundred and one cases in Kumamoto and 22 cases in Niigata showed pathological changes of MD. This report provides a brief research history and overview of the pathological changes of MD, and also presents representative cases of adult, infantile and fetal forms of MD among the 450 MD-related autopsy cases in Kumamoto Prefecture.

Research at the interface between human and veterinary health

Epidemiology is currently undergoing changes in its underlying philosophy and approach, as a result of the rapid global changes which are transforming the world in which epidemiologists live and work. This necessitates a multidisciplinary "population approach" involving "multilevel thinking" about the determinants of disease. These issues are of relevance to the interface between human and animal epidemiology, which has received considerable attention in recent years, particularly as a result of the arrival of H1N1 influenza, and the increasingly obvious need for coordinated systems of surveillance for human and animal infectious diseases. However, the need for coordination between human and veterinary epidemiology is broader than that, and there is no need to restrict the "one world one health" concept to communicable disease. In the current paper we will therefore consider the interface between human and animal health for the study of non-communicable disease, particularly those involving occupational and environmental risk factors. These issues are illustrated with two examples: one involving environmental health (asthma); and one involving occupational health (cancer). We will also discuss the potential to use animal health data as indicators for human environmental health risks.

The toxicology of mercury and its compounds

A concentrated review on the toxicology of inorganic mercury together with an extensive review on the neurotoxicology of methylmercury is presented. The challenges of using inorganic mercury in dental amalgam are reviewed both regarding the occupational exposure and the possible health problems for the dental patients. The two remaining "mysteries" of methylmercury neurotoxicology are also being reviewed; the cellular selectivity and the delayed onset of symptoms. The relevant literature on these aspects has been discussed and some suggestions towards explaining these observations have been presented.

Methylmercury: a potential environmental risk factor contributing to epileptogenesis

Epilepsy or seizure disorder is one of the most common neurological diseases in humans. Although genetic mutations in ion channels and receptors and some other risk factors such as brain injury are linked to epileptogenesis, the underlying cause for the majority of epilepsy cases remains unknown. Gene-environment interactions are thought to play a critical role in the etiology of epilepsy. Exposure to environmental chemicals is an important risk factor. Methylmercury (MeHg) is a prominent environmental neurotoxicant, which targets primarily the central nervous system (CNS). Patients or animals with acute or chronic MeHg poisoning often display epileptic seizures or show increased susceptibility to seizures, suggesting that MeHg exposure may be associated with epileptogenesis. This mini-review highlights the effects of MeHg exposure, especially developmental exposure, on the susceptibility of humans and animals to seizures, and discusses the potential role of low level MeHg exposure in epileptogenesis. This review also proposes that a preferential effect of MeHg on the inhibitory GABAergic system, leading to disinhibition of excitatory glutamatergic function, may be one of the potential mechanisms underlying MeHg-induced changes in seizure susceptibility.

Adverse effects of methylmercury: environmental health research implications

BACKGROUND

The scientific discoveries of health risks resulting from methylmercury exposure began in 1865 describing ataxia, dysarthria, constriction of visual fields, impaired hearing, and sensory disturbance as symptoms of fatal methylmercury poisoning.

OBJECTIVE

Our aim was to examine how knowledge and consensus on methylmercury toxicity have developed in order to identify problems of wider concern in research.

DATA SOURCES AND EXTRACTION

We tracked key publications that reflected new insights into human methylmercury toxicity. From this evidence, we identified possible caveats of potential significance for environmental health research in general.

SYNTHESIS

At first, methylmercury research was impaired by inappropriate attention to narrow case definitions and uncertain chemical speciation. It also ignored the link between ecotoxicity and human toxicity. As a result, serious delays affected the recognition of methylmercury as a cause of serious human poisonings in Minamata, Japan. Developmental neurotoxicity was first reported in 1952, but despite accumulating evidence, the vulnerability of the developing nervous system was not taken into account in risk assessment internationally until approximately 50 years later. Imprecision in exposure assessment and other forms of uncertainty tended to cause an underestimation of methylmercury toxicity and repeatedly led to calls for more research rather than prevention.

CONCLUSIONS

Coupled with legal and political rigidity that demanded convincing documentation before considering prevention and compensation, types of uncertainty that are common in environmental research delayed the scientific consensus and were used as an excuse for deferring corrective action. Symptoms of methylmercury toxicity, such as tunnel vision, forgetfulness, and lack of coordination, also seemed to affect environmental health research and its interpretation.

Three dimensional morphometric analyses of axon terminals early changes induced by methylmercury intoxication in the adult cat striate cortex

The aim of the present report is to investigate in detail morphometric changes of axon terminals of area 17 of adult cat induced by methylmercury intoxication. Six adult male cats (Felix catus), with 12 h day-light cycle and ad libitum water and food regimen, received a single dose of MeHgCl (6.4 mg/kg) dissolved in milk, whereas control subjects (n=6) received only milk. After 30 days, biocytin iontophoretic injections were done into the area 17, (Horsley-Clark coordinates between AP 3.0-6.0) on the crown of the lateral gyrus, near the border with area 18. MeHg and inorganic Hg (Hgi) concentrations were measured in the brain parenchyma of intoxicated cats and corresponded on average to 1.39+/-0.3 and 6.79+/-0.6 ppm (mean+/-s.e.m.) respectively. Twenty four hours after iontophoresis, aldehyde fixed brain sections (200 microm thick), were processed to reveal biocytin labeled terminals. Axonal microscopic 3D reconstructions using Neurolucida software (Microbright Systems Inc.) allowed estimations of boutons, branching points and segment densities for each terminal. Cluster analysis of morphometric axonal features from control and intoxicated group revealed, two distinct axon families (Type I and II) as described elsewhere. Total density values of boutons, branching points and segment densities of intoxicated group, decreased 81, 59 and 91% respectively, as compared to the control group (ANOVA two-way, Bonferroni a priori test p<0.05). Altered axonal morphology associated with MeHg, appeared early in the disease (30 days after contamination), revealing new aspects of the neuronal pathology of the methylmercury intoxication in the visual cortex.

Accumulation of Hg and other heavy metals in the Javan mongoose (Herpestes javanicus) captured on Amamioshima Island, Japan

Concentrations of 22 elements (Mg, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sb, Cs, Ba, Tl, total Hg (T-Hg), Pb) and organic Hg (O-Hg) were examined in the liver, kidney and brain of the Javan mongoose (Herpestes javanicus) and in liver of the Amami rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi) from Amamioshima Island in Japan. Relatively high levels of T-Hg levels (from 1.75 to 55.5 microg g-1 wet wt.) were found in the Javan mongoose. As for a comparison of hepatic T-Hg concentrations between the two areas, there was no significant difference between the Javan mongoose in Amamioshima and those in the Okinawa islands. In addition, T-Hg levels in the livers of the Amami rabbit were the same as in the livers of other herbivorous mammals. Taken together, it suggested that T-Hg accumulation in the livers of the Javan mongoose was not affected by the environment but by a specific physiological mechanism. The comparison of Hg and other heavy metal accumulations between terrestrial mammals (13 species, 61 individuals) including the Javan mongoose and marine mammals (18 species, 508 individuals) were also discussed.

Lead exposure potentiates predatory attack behavior in the cat

Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that environmental lead exposure is associated with aggressive behavior in children; however, numerous confounding variables limit the ability of these studies to establish a causal relationship. The study of aggressive behavior using a validated animal model was used to test the hypothesis that there is a causal relationship between lead exposure and aggression in the absence of confounding variables. We studied the effects of lead exposure on a feline model of aggression: predatory (quiet biting) attack of an anesthetized rat. Five cats were stimulated with a precisely controlled electrical current via electrodes inserted into the lateral hypothalamus. The response measure was the predatory attack threshold current (i.e., the current required to elicit an attack response on 50% of the trials). Blocks of trials were administered in which predatory attack threshold currents were measured three times a week for a total of 6-10 weeks, including before, during, and after lead exposure. Lead was incorporated into cat food "treats" at doses of 50-150 mg/kg/day. Two of the five cats received a second period of lead exposure. Blood lead concentrations were measured twice a week and were <1, 21-77, and <20 micro g/dL prior to, during, and after lead exposure, respectively. The predatory attack threshold decreased significantly during initial lead exposure in three of five cats and increased after the cessation of lead exposure in four of the five cats (P<0.01). The predatory attack thresholds and blood lead concentrations for each cat were inversely correlated (r=-0.35 to -0.74). A random-effects mixed model demonstrated a significant (P=0.0019) negative association between threshold current and blood lead concentration. The data of this study demonstrate that lead exposure enhances predatory aggression in the cat and provide experimental support for a causal relationship between lead exposure and aggressive behavior in humans.