Identity of ultrastructural effects of mercuric chloride and methyl mercury after intracerebral injection.

In man the clinical patterns of inorganic and organic mercury toxicity are different. Inorganic mercuric chloride mainly affects the renal and gastrointestinal systems. The characteristic neurological feature is a fine tremor, particularly of the hands and fingers. In contrast organic methyl mercury toxicity results in an exclusively neurological disorder, the characteristic features being ataxia, dysarthria, paresthesia and tunnel vision. To study the action of these classes of mercury compounds on neurones small amounts of mercuric chloride or methyl mercuric acetate were injected or iontophoresed into the rat cerebrum. The ultrastructural changes which followed were identical. Progressive and often pronounced cytoplasmic swelling of neurones suggested a defect at the cell membrane level. Thus is spite of their distinctive clinical syndromes these 2 classes of mercury compounds are capable of inducing neuronal necrosis.