Abstract
The amount of mercury exhaled from normal and acatalasemic mice exposed to metallic mercury vapor after administration of aminotriazole or ethanol was investigated. The cumulative amount of mercury exhaled from acatalasemic mice was significantly higher than that of normal mice. Moreover, the cumulative amount of mercury exhaled from acatalasemic mice pretreated with aminotriazole or ethanol was significantly higher than that of normal mice, although the difference in mercury exhaled from normal and acatalasemic mice was not significant. The cumulative amount of mercury exhaled from normal and acatalasemic mice pretreated with aminotriazole or ethanol was significantly higher than that of control mice. The results suggest that catalase activity in the lungs was inhibited by aminotriazole or ethanol, resulting in an increase in the level of mercury exhaled from the mice.
The mercury concentration in organs of normal and acatalasemic mice, and mice exposed to metallic mercury vapor after administration of aminotriazole or ethanol was investigated. The mercury concentration in the liver of acatalasemic mice, and acatalasemic mice pretreated with aminotriazole or ethanol was higher than that of normal mice. In contrast, the concentration in the lungs and blood were lower than those of normal mice.
