title: Mercury chloride increases hepatic alanine aminotransferase and glucose 6-phosphatase activities in newborn rats in vivo.
abstract: This work investigated the in vivo and in vitro effects of HgCl2 and ZnCl2 on metabolic enzymes from tissues of young rats to verify whether the physiological and biochemical alterations induced by mercury and prevented by zinc are related to hepatic and renal glucose metabolism. Wistar rats received (subcutaneous) saline or ZnCl2 (27 mg/kg/day) from 3 to 7 days old and saline or HgCl2 (5.0 mg/kg/day) from 8 to 12 days old. Mercury exposure increased the hepatic alanine aminotransferase (∼6-fold) and glucose 6-phosphatase (75%) activity; zinc pre-exposure prevented totally and partially these mercury alterations respectively. In vitro, HgCl2 inhibited the serum (22%, 10 μM) and liver (54%, 100 μM) alanine aminotransferase, serum (53%) and liver (64%) lactate dehydrogenase (10 μM), and liver (53%) and kidney (41%) glucose 6-phosphatase (100 μM) from 10- to 13-day-old rats. The results show that mercury induces distinct alterations in these enzymes when tested in vivo or in vitro as well as when different sources were used. The increase of both hepatic alanine aminotransferase and glucose 6-phosphatase activity suggests that the mercury-exposed rats have increased gluconeogenic activity in the liver. Zinc prevents the in vivo effects on metabolic changes induced by mercury.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Gradução em Ciências Biológicas, Bioquímica Toxicológica, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, 97105-900, Santa Maria, RS, Brasil.
authors.forename: Lucélia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moraes-Silva
authors.forename: Tania Maria
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Bueno
authors.forename: Carina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franciscato
authors.forename: Cláudia Sirlene
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.forename: Nilce Coelho
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Peixoto
authors.forename: Maria Ester
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Pereira
mesh_terms: D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001786:Blood Glucose; D002712:Chlorides / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D005952:Glucose-6-Phosphatase / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D006003:Glycogen / Q000378:metabolism; D007668:Kidney / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology; D045022:Lactate Dehydrogenases / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology; D008297:Male; D008627:Mercuric Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D017967:Zinc Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D002712:Chlorides; D017967:Zinc Compounds; D008627:Mercuric Chloride; C016837:zinc chloride; D006003:Glycogen; D045022:Lactate Dehydrogenases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D005952:Glucose-6-Phosphatase