revised final - Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ...

MERCURY 176
2. HEALTH EFFECTS
intake of total mercury for adults recommended by the World Health organization. The authors concluded
that efforts should be made to decrease total mercury burden in women of reproductive age Oskarsson et
al. (1996).
Inorganic Mercury. The liver and kidneys of mice had the highest mercury levels 14 days after exposure
to a single oral dose of 0.2–20 mg 203 Hg/kg as mercuric chloride (Nielsen and Andersen 1990). The brain
has substantially lower mercury levels; however, retention was longest in this tissue. Sin et al. (1983)
report that the kidneys also had the highest mercury levels following repeated oral exposure of mice to
mercuric chloride (4–5 mg Hg/kg) for 2–8 weeks. Mercuric sulfide did not accumulate in the tissues of
mice to any significant extent following exposure to low levels of mercuric sulfide (4–5 mg Hg/kg) for
2–8 weeks (Sin et al. 1983). However, the mercury content in the liver and kidneys of mice treated with
higher doses of mercuric sulfide (.8–200 mg Hg/kg/day) for 7 days was significantly increased compared
to the controls (Yeoh et al. 1986, 1989). Mice fed mercuric sulfide (86 mg Hg/kg/day) for 1 week
exhibited a 21-fold increase in the kidneys' mercury content (p