Methylmercury and the skeletal muscle receptor.
Methylmercury at bath concentration of 2 X 10(-5) M was capable of inhibiting muscular contractions of the isolated rat phrenic-nerve hemidiaphragm preparation. At the height of inhibition, nerve action potential could still be recorded and the muscles continued to respond to direct stimulation. The inhibition was not reversible with L-cysteine or D-penicillamine but limited protection was possible by prior treatment with (+)-tubocurarine. Treatment of frog rectus muscles with methylmercury (0-2 mM for 15 min) resulted in a shift to the right of 1 log unit in the dose response curve to acetylcholine and a reduction in the maximum response of the tissue. The observed inhibitory action of methylmercury on neuromuscular transmission may be explained by an action on the disulphide bond believed to be present on a cholinergic receptor.
D000818:Animals; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005035:Ethylmercury Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D008767:Methylmercury Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009132:Muscles / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D011894:Rana pipiens; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects; D013997:Time Factors; D014403:Tubocurarine / Q000494:pharmacology
D005035:Ethylmercury Compounds; D008767:Methylmercury Compounds; D014403:Tubocurarine