Partitioning and Kinetics of Methylmercury among Organs in Captive Mink (Neovison vison): A Stable Isotope Tracer Study

The objective of this study was to determine the partition coefficients between blood and brain, liver and kidney and fur for MeHg under steady-state conditions and to measure the half-lives for MeHg in these organs. Captive mink (Neovison vison) were fed a diet enriched with two stable isotopes of Hg, Me199Hg and Me201Hg for a period of 60 days. After a period of 10 days the diet was changed to contain only Me201Hg so that, between days 10 and 60, we were able to measure both uptake and elimination rates from blood, brain, liver kidney and fur. Liver and kidney response was very rapid, closely following changes in blood concentrations but there was a small lag time between peak blood concentrations and peak brain concentrations. Half-lives for MeHg were 15.4, 10.2 and 13.4 days for brain, liver and kidney, respectively. There was no measurable conversion of the MeHg to inorganic Hg (IHg) in the brain over the 60 day period, unlike in liver and kidney.
Source: Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology - Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research