In vivo incorporation of [14C]leucine into brain protein of mice treated with methylmercury and thiol complexes of methylmercury.

P H Fair, J E Balthrop, J L Wade, S Braddon-Galloway

Toxicology letters 1987 May

filter terms:

The effect of methylmercury and thiol complexes of methylmercury on inhibition of protein synthesis was evaluated. Mice were injected (i.p.) with the following treatments: methylmercuric chloride, methylmercury-glutathione, methylmercury-cysteinylglycine and control (vehicle) for 10 days. Ten animals from each group were injected with [14C]leucine 90 min prior to death. The brains were removed and the extracted protein was subjected to liquid scintillation analysis. Mice receiving the methylmercury and methylmercury-glutathione treatments exhibited significantly greater weight loss than the control while the methylmercury-cysteinylglycine treatment was not significantly different than the control. Incorporation of [14C]leucine into brain protein was significantly depressed in the methylmercury (81% of control) and the methylmercury-glutathione (79% of control) treatments. Protein synthesis in mice receiving the methylmercury-cysteinylglycine complex although not significantly different than the methylmercury treatments was only 92% of the control mice.

Citation

P H Fair, J E Balthrop, J L Wade, S Braddon-Galloway. In vivo incorporation of [14C]leucine into brain protein of mice treated with methylmercury and thiol complexes of methylmercury. Toxicology letters. 1987 May;36(3):213-20