title: Developmental toxicity from exposure to various forms of mercury compounds in medaka fish (Oryzias latipes) embryos.
abstract: This study examined developmental toxicity of different mercury compounds, including some used in traditional medicines. Medaka (Oryzias latipes) embryos were exposed to 0.001-10 µM concentrations of MeHg, HgCl2, α-HgS (Zhu Sha), and β-HgS (Zuotai) from stage 10 (6-7 hpf) to 10 days post fertilization (dpf). Of the forms of mercury in this study, the organic form (MeHg) proved the most toxic followed by inorganic mercury (HgCl2), both producing embryo developmental toxicity. Altered phenotypes included pericardial edema with elongated or tube heart, reduction of eye pigmentation, and failure of swim bladder inflation. Both α-HgS and β-HgS were less toxic than MeHg and HgCl2. Total RNA was extracted from survivors three days after exposure to MeHg (0.1 µM), HgCl2 (1 µM), α-HgS (10 µM), or β-HgS (10 µM) to examine toxicity-related gene expression. MeHg and HgCl2 markedly induced metallothionein (MT) and heme oxygenase-1 (Ho-1), while α-HgS and β-HgS failed to induce either gene. Chemical forms of mercury compounds proved to be a major determinant in their developmental toxicity.
authors.affiliation: Inner Mongolia Provincial Key Laboratory for Toxicants and Animal Disease, College of Animal Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia University for the Nationalities, Tongliao, China; Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States.
authors.forename: Wu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Zunyi Medical College, Department of Pharmacology , Zunyi , China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Tibetan Medicine, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xining , China.
authors.forename: Lixin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Inner Mongolia Provincial Key Laboratory for Toxicants and Animal Disease, College of Animal Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia University for the Nationalities , Tongliao , China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jingfeng
authors.affiliation: Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University , Durham , NC , United States.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chernick
authors.affiliation: Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University , Durham , NC , United States.
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Hinton
keywords: Developmental toxicity; Heme oxygenase-1; HgCl2; MeHg; Medaka; Mercury; Metallothionein; α-HgS (Zhu Sha, cinnabar); β-HgS (Zuotai)