Abstract
The aim of this study was to measure the distribution of mercury, in tissues of rats exposed to amalgam over a two months period. Possible interaction of mercury with copper and zinc in organs was also evaluated. Rats were either exposed to mercury from 4 dental amalgams, or fed the diet containing powdered amalgam during two months. Mercury was measured in the kidney, liver and brain, copper in kidney and brain and zinc in kidney. The results showed significantly higher concentrations of mercury in the kidneys and the brains of rats in both exposed groups compared to control. Even after two months of exposure to mercury brain mercury concentration in rats with amalgam fillings was 8 times higher than in the control and 2 times higher than in rats exposed to amalgam supplemented diet. The highest mercury concentration in the latter group was found in the kidneys and it was 5 times higher than in the control group. We found no significant differences between mercury levels in exposed and control rat's liver. Exposure to mercury from dental amalgams did not alter the concentrations of copper and zinc in the tissues. Histopathological analyses of rats tissues did not show any pathological changes. These results support previously proposed nose-brain transport of mercury released from dental amalgam fillings.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arvidson B, Arvidsson J, Johansson K. 1994 Mercury deposits in neurons of the trigeminal ganglia after insertion of dental amalgam in rats. BioMetals 7, 261-263.
Blanuša M, Prester Lj, Radić S. Kargačin B. 1994 Inorganic mercury exposure, mercury-copper interaction, and DMPS treatment in rats. Environ Health Perspect 102(3), 305-307.
Bogden JD, Kemp FW, Troianao RA, Jortners BS, Timpone C, Giuliani D. 1980 Effect of mercuric chloride and methylmercury chloride exposure in tissue concentrations of six essential minerals. Environ Res 21, 350-359.
Cherian MG, Nordberg M. 1983 Cellular adaptation in metal toxicology and metallothionein. Toxicology 28, 1-15.
Danscher G, Horsted-Bindslev P, Rungby J. 1990 Traces of mercury in organs from primates with amalgam fillings. Exp Mol Pathol 52, 291-299.
Eley BM, Cox SW. 1986 The development of mercury-and selenium-containing deposits in the kidneys following implantation of dental amalgams in guinea pigs. Br J Exp Path 67, 937-949.
Eley BM, Cox SW. 1993 The release, absorption and possible health effects of mercury from dental amalgam: a review of recent findings. Br Dent J 175, 161-168.
Elsenhans B, Scumann K, Forth W. 1991 Toxic metals: interactions with essential metals. In: Rowland IR, ed. Nutrition, Toxicity, and Cancer. Boca Raton: FL CRC Press Inc; 223-258.
Evans HL. 1998 Mercury. In: Rom WN, ed. Environmental and Occupational Medicine. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven Publishers; 993-999.
Farant JP, Brisette, Moncion L, Bigras L, Chartrand A. 1981 Improved cold-vapor atomic absorption technic for the microdetermination of total and inorganic mercury in biological samples. J Anal Toxicol 5, 47-51.
Friberg L, Mottet KN. 1989 Accumulation of methylmercury and inorganic mercury in the brain. Biol Trace Elem Res 21, 201-206.
Hahn LJ, Kloiber R, Vimy MJ, Takahashi Y, Lorscheider FL. 1989 Dental ‘silver’ tooth fillings: a source of mercury exposure revealed by whole-body image scan and tissue analysis. FASEB J 3, 2641-2646.
Hahn LJ, Kloiber R, Leininger RW, Vimy MJ, Lorcscheider FL. 1990 Whole-body imaging of the distribution of mercury released from dental fillings into monkey tissue. FASEB J 4, 3256-3260.
Halbach S. 1995 Combined estimation of mercury species released from amalgam. J Dent Res 74(4), 1103-1109.
Hanson M, Pleva J. 1991 The dental amalgam issue. A review. Experientia 47, 9-22. Kosta L, Byrne AR, Zelenko V. 1975 Correlation between selenium and mercury in man following exposure to inorganic mercury. Nature 254, 238–239.
Maas C, Bruck W, Haffner HT, Schweinsberg F. 1996 Investigations on cerebral mercury from dental amalgam fillings through a direct nose-brain transport. Zbl Hyg 198, 275-291.
Muto H, Shinada M, Tokuta K, Takizawa Y. 1991 Rapid changes in concentrations of essential elements in organs of rats exposed to methylmercury chloride and mercuric chloride as shown by simultaneous multielemental analysis. Br J Ind Med 48, 382-388.
Nylander M. 1986 Mercury in pituitary glands of dentists. Lancet 1, 442. Nylander M, Friberg L, Lind B. 1987 Mercury concentrations in the human brain and kidneys in relation to exposure from dental amalgam fillings. Swed Dent J 11, 179–187.
Nylander M, Weiner J. 1991 Mercury and selenium concentrations and their interrelations in organs from dental staff and the general population. Br J Ind Med 48, 729-734.
Paget GE, Thomson R. 1979 Standard Operating Procedures in Pathology. Baltimore: University Park Press.
Patterson JE, Weissberg BG, Dennison PJ. 1985 Mercury concentrations in the human brain and kidneys in relation to exposure from dental amalgams. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 2434, 459-468.
Perl DP, Good PF. 1987 Uptake of aluminium into central nervous system along nasal-olfactory pathways. Lancet i, 1028.
Störtebecker P. 1989a Mercury poisoning from dental amalgam through a direct nose-brain transport. Lancet 1, 1207.
Störtebecker P. 1989b Direct transport of mercury from the oronasal cavity to the cranial cavity as a cause of dental amalgam poisoning. Swed J Biol Med 3, 8-21.
Škreblin M, Stegnar P, Kregar I. 1988 Effect of mercury on the subcellular distribution of endogenous copper and zinc and the presence of Hg, Cu, Zn-metallothionein in the kidney of rats exposed to mercury vapour. In: Bratter P, Schramel P, eds. Trace Element Analytical Chemistry in Medicine and Biology, vol 5. Berlin: Walter Gruyter; 570-575.
Tjälve H, Gottafrey J, Björklund I. 1986 Tissue deposition of 109Cd2+ in the brown trout (Salmo trutta) studied by autoradiography and impulse counting. Toxicol Environ Chem 12, 31-48.
Weiner JA, Nylander M, Berglund F. 1990 Does mercury from amalgam restorations constitute a health hazard? Sci Total Environ 99, 1-22.
Webb M, Cain K. 1982 Functions of metallothionein. Biochem Pharmacol 31, 137-142.
WHO 1991 Inorganic mercury. Geneva: WHO, Environmental Health Criteria, No. 118.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Galic, N., Prpic-Mehičic, G., Prester, L. et al. Dental amalgam mercury exposure in rats. Biometals 12, 227–231 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009267513632
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009267513632