title: Free radicals and antioxidant status in rat liver after dietary exposure of environmental mercury.
abstract: Potential health effect of dietary exposure to environmental mercury was examined in this study. Dietary exposure significantly increased content of reduced glutathione (GSH) and activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in rat liver at 7 or 20 days (P<0.05; P<0.01), but parameters droped to normal levels after 90 days of exposure. The early increases of the two antioxidants were partly associated with the co-accumulated selenium. However, activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) was observed significantly decreased after 30 and 90 days of exposure (P<0.05, P<0.05). Changes of antioxidants were paralleled by the induction and aggravation of free radicals in rat liver at 30 and 90 days (P<0.01, P<0.01), increased nitric oxide (NO) content at 90 days (P<0.01). The excess availability of free radicals and the decreased levels of antioxidants resulted in a significant increase of malonyldialdehyde (MDA) after 90 days of exposure, indicating the aggravation of hepatic oxidative status. A number of biomarkers were required to monitor and minimize the health risk for the local population.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, PR China; School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200240, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiuling
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Wenhua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jinping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Xiaoxiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Huisheng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Liya
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qu