Andy,
I would love to hear your comments to this abstract.

TIA,
Lana

J Environ Sci Health B 2001 Jul;36(4):489-99 Related Articles, Books


Effects of selenium and mercury on the enzymatic activities and lipid
peroxidation in brain, liver, and blood of rats.

El-Demerdash FM.

Department of Environmental Studies, Institute of Graduate Studies
and Research, Alexandria University, Egypt.

Recent studies have reported on the toxicity and related oxidative
stress of selenium and mercury. The present study compares the
effects of Se as sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) and Hg as mercuric
chloride (HgCl2) separately and in combination. Rats received
repeated oral doses of Se (0.5 micromol/ml), Hg (0.5 micromol/ml), or
Se in combination with Hg (0.5 micromol/ml of each) for 5 consecutive
days. Rat serum, brain and liver samples were collected for
biochemical assays. The following biochemical alterations occurred in
response to Hg treatment: protein content (brain and liver),
acetylcholinesterase (AChE) (brain and serum), acid and alkaline (AcP
and AlP) phosphatases (plasma and liver) and glutathione S-
transferase (GST) (plasma and liver) activities were significantly
(P<0.05) decreased, while lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (plasma, brain
and liver), aspartate and alanine aminotransferase (AST, ALT) (serum
and liver) activities were significantly increased. Thiobarbituric
acid reactive substances (TBARS) was significantly increased in brain
and liver. Effect of Se alone included decreased AcP, AlP and GST
(serum and liver) activities. However, LDH (serum, brain and liver)
and AST (liver) and TBARS (brain and liver) increased. Selenium in
combination with Hg partially or totally alleviated the toxic effects
of Hg on different studied enzymes. It is concluded that Se could be
able to antagonize the toxic effects of mercury.

PMID: 11495025 [PubMed - in process]