Advances in Mercury Toxicology

Overview.- Session 1: Fate in the Environment.- Increased Methylmercury Contamination in Fish in Newly Formed Freshwater Reservoirs.- Speciation of Mercury in the Environment.- Session 2: Disposition in the Body.- Individual Difference of Methylmercury Metabolism in Animals and Its Significance in Methylmercury Toxicity.- Mechanisms of Urinary Excretion of Methylmercury(MM).- Role of Glutathione in Mercury Disposition.- Mechanism for Renal Handling of Methylmercury.- Methods for Decreasing 203Hg Retention in Relation to Age and Route of Exposure.- Immunohistochemical Localization of Metallothionein in Organs of Rats Treated with either Cadmium, Inorganic or Organic Mercurials.- Session 3: Biotransformation.- Mercury Vapor Uptake and Oxidoreductases in Erythrocytes.- Differential Determination of Ionizable and Unionizable (Inert) Forms of Inorganic Mercury in Animal Tissues.- Session 4: Molecular Mechanisms of Toxicity.- Role of Neuronal Ion Channels in Mercury Intoxication.- Role of Oxidative Injury in the Pathogenesis of Methylmercury Neurotoxicity.- Alterations in Gene Expression Due to Methylmercury in Central and Peripheral Nervous Tissues of the Rat.- Microtubules: A Susceptible Target of Methylmercury Cytotoxicity.- DNA Damage by Mercury Compounds: An Overview.- Session 5: Selenium as a Modifying Factor of Mercury Toxicity.- Possible Mechanism of Detoxifying Effect of Selenium on the Toxicity of Mercury Compounds.- Overview on the Protection Given by Selenium Against Mercurials.- Session 6: Toxic Effects of Mercury.- Effect of Mercuric Chloride on Angiotensin II-Induced Ca++ Transient in the Proximal Tubule of Rats.- Effects of Methylmercury on the Developing Brain.- Experimental Approaches to Developmental Toxicity of Methylmercury.- Neuropathology of Methylmercury Intoxication.- Behavioral Toxicology of Mercury Compounds.- Effect of Methylmercury on Sleep Patterns in the Rat.- Effect of Inorganic Mercury on the Immune System.- Session 7: Clinical and Epidemiological Aspects.- Exposure to Mercury in the Population.- Blood and Urinary Mercury Levels as Indicators of Exposure to Mercury Vapor.- Epidemiological and Clinical Features of Minamata Disease.- Special Lecture and Closing Remarks.- Mercury in Human Ecology.- Appendix I.- Program.- Appendix II.- Publications from Rochester International Conferences in Environmental Toxicity.