Metabolismes of methylmercury sulfate and methylmercury iodide in animals

Abstract

Cats fed (CH₃Hg)₂SO₄ developed the same findings as spontaneously affected cats fed the poisonous seafood from Minamata Bay. The organomercury compound in raw organs such as the liver, the kidney, and the bone marrow of the above animals did not transfer to chloroform, but it transferred easily to BAL. The methylmercury compound in organs of cats fed (CH₃Hg)₂SO₄ and rats fed CH₃HgI accumulated as the same methylmercury compound. The excretion of mercury in feces of cats fed (CH₃Hg)₂SO₄ was considerably lessoned as compared with that of fed CH₃HgCl and (CH₃Hg)₂S.