title: Kinetics of mercury in blood and urine after brief occupational exposure.
abstract: The decrease in mercury (Hg) levels in whole blood (B), plasma (P), erythrocytes (Ery), and urine (U) was investigated in nine men after 3 d of intense (greater than 100 micrograms/m3) exposure to metallic Hg vapor. In a model in which common half-times for all subjects were used, the best fit for B-Hg was obtained with half-times of 3.1 d for a fast phase and 18 d for a slow phase. P-Hg seemed to decay more rapidly than Ery-Hg. Peak U-Hg (morning, creatinine-corrected samples) was not observed until 2-3 wk after exposure. Thereafter, the median half-time was 40 d (assuming individual one-compartment models). In a model for which common half-times were used, the point estimates were 59 d for a one-compartment model and 28 and 141 d for a two-compartment model. The fractions of the fast phases (i.e., two-compartment models with common half-times) were 80% for B-Hg and 84% for U-Hg.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Medicine, Sahlgren's University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barregård
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sällsten
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schütz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Attewell
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Skerfving
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Järvholm
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D008628:Mercury / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000652:urine; D008657:Metabolic Clearance Rate; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D010949:Plasma / Q000737:chemistry; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D008628:Mercury