Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Occupational and Environmental Medicine logoLink to Occupational and Environmental Medicine
. 1994 Oct;51(10):660–662. doi: 10.1136/oem.51.10.660

Longitudinal study of workers exposed to mercury vapour at low concentrations: time course of inorganic and organic mercury concentrations in urine, blood, and hair.

N Ishihara 1, K Urushiyama 1
PMCID: PMC1128073  PMID: 8000489

Abstract

Seven Japanese female workers exposed to mercury vapour at a concentration of < 0.02 mg Hg/m3 (8 h/day, 44 h/week) were examined for inorganic (I-Hg) and organic (O-Hg) mercury concentrations in urine, blood, and hair after 0, 4, 8, 17, and 23 months of exposure. Both I-Hg and O-Hg concentrations in urine and hair did not increase significantly even after 23 months of exposure. The concentration of I-Hg and O-Hg in plasma and O-Hg in erythrocytes, however, increased significantly after four months of exposure, and the high concentrations were maintained until the end of the study (23 months of exposure). Absence of a significant increase in the concentration of O-Hg in hair indicates that changes in concentrations of I-Hg and O-Hg in blood could be caused by the occupational exposure to mercury vapour. These results show clearly that mercury concentration in blood indicates the uptake of mercury compared with data from before employment with mercury. Even after 23 months of exposure to mercury vapour, however, urinary mercury concentration was not affected.

Full text

PDF
660

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Barregård L., Hultberg B., Schütz A., Sällsten G. Enzymuria in workers exposed to inorganic mercury. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 1988;61(1-2):65–69. doi: 10.1007/BF00381609. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Barregård L., Sällsten G., Schütz A., Attewell R., Skerfving S., Järvholm B. Kinetics of mercury in blood and urine after brief occupational exposure. Arch Environ Health. 1992 May-Jun;47(3):176–184. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1992.9938347. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Clarkson T. W., Magos L. Studies on the binding of mercury in tissue homogenates. Biochem J. 1966 Apr;99(1):62–70. doi: 10.1042/bj0990062. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Ishihara N., Shiojima S., Suzuki T. Selective enhancement of urinary organic mercury excretion by D-penicillamine. Br J Ind Med. 1974 Jul;31(3):245–249. doi: 10.1136/oem.31.3.245. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Ishihara N., Urushiyama K., Suzuki T. Inorganic and organic mercury in blood, urine and hair in low level mercury vapour exposure. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 1977 Dec 22;40(4):249–253. doi: 10.1007/BF00381412. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Langworth S., Elinder C. G., Göthe C. J., Vesterberg O. Biological monitoring of environmental and occupational exposure to mercury. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 1991;63(3):161–167. doi: 10.1007/BF00381563. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Langworth S., Elinder C. G., Sundquist K. G., Vesterberg O. Renal and immunological effects of occupational exposure to inorganic mercury. Br J Ind Med. 1992 Jun;49(6):394–401. doi: 10.1136/oem.49.6.394. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Matsuo N., Suzuki T., Akagi H. Mercury concentration in organs of contemporary Japanese. Arch Environ Health. 1989 Sep-Oct;44(5):298–303. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1989.9935897. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Roels H., Abdeladim S., Braun M., Malchaire J., Lauwerys R. Detection of hand tremor in workers exposed to mercury vapor: a comparative study of three methods. Environ Res. 1989 Aug;49(2):152–165. doi: 10.1016/s0013-9351(89)80060-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Suzuki T., Shishido S. Change of levels of urinary organic mercury in groups with varying extents of inorganic mercury exposure. Tohoku J Exp Med. 1974 Jan;112(1):101–102. doi: 10.1620/tjem.112.101. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Suzuki T., Shishido S., Ishihara N. Different behaviour of inorganic and organic mercury in renal excretion with reference to effects of D-penicillamine. Br J Ind Med. 1976 May;33(2):88–91. doi: 10.1136/oem.33.2.88. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Suzuki T., Shishido S., Ishihara N. Interaction of inorganic to organic mercury in their metabolism in human body. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 1976 Dec 15;38(2):103–113. doi: 10.1007/BF00378620. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Verberk M. M., Sallé H. J., Kemper C. H. Tremor in workers with low exposure to metallic mercury. Am Ind Hyg Assoc J. 1986 Sep;47(9):559–562. doi: 10.1080/15298668691390232. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Wallenstein S., Zucker C. L., Fleiss J. L. Some statistical methods useful in circulation research. Circ Res. 1980 Jul;47(1):1–9. doi: 10.1161/01.res.47.1.1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Occupational and Environmental Medicine are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES