Renal porphyrinuria during chronic methyl mercury exposure.

These studies demonstrate altered activities of renal heme biosynthetic pathway enzymes and elevated levels of urinary uroporphyrin and coproporphyrin in rats during chronic exposure to 3, 5, or 10 ppm methyl mercury hydroxide (MMH). Porphyrinuria appears to occur as a result of inhibition of renal ferrochelatase and uroporphyrinogen I synthetase, with secondary induction of delta-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) synthetase in kidneys but not livers of mercury-exposed rats. Since the renal heme biosynthetic system appears to be highly sensitive to MMH during continuous exposure to levels below those which elicit overt general organ damage, these results may have clinical utility in diagnosing pre-toxic biological responses to mercury in human populations.