Changes in distribution of mercury and selenium in soluble fractions of rabbit tissues after simultaneous administration.

The existing states of mercury and selenium in the blood and in soluble fractions of perfused rabbit liver and kidney were studied by gel filtration on Sephadex G-200 1 hr or 24 hr after intravenous injection of mercuric chloride and/or sodium selenite. Both mercury and selenium in the plasma and stroma-free hemolysate were found to exist in the high-molecular weight fraction following simultaneous injection of mercuric chloride and sodium selenite. Patterns in gel filtration of the plasma and the stroma-free hemolysate did not show any significant change between 1 hr and 24 hr after the administration. A similar tendency as described above was obtained with the liver-soluble fraction at 24 hr after injection of mercuric chloride and sodium selenite. A possible role of the high-molecular weight complex, which is quickly formed by the interaction of mercury and selenium in blood stream, in decreasing the acute renal toxicity of inorganic mercury is discussed.