Impairments of multisensory modality due to methylmercury exposure - behavioral analysis of rat

Abstract

Methylmercury (MeHg) is known to cause neural degeneration, which is called Minamata disease. Although one of the major symptoms of the disease is sensory disturbance, the sensitivities to MeHg on several sensory modalities such as cold, hot, pain, and pressure have not been investigated. Wistar rats were exposed to MeHg (6.7 mg/kg/day) fifth a week for two weeks. Behavioral analysis was performed from the beginning day of MeHg exposure for 70 days to quantify the sensory disturbance. The results suggest that each sensory modality seems to have different sensitivity to MeHg neurotoxicity.