Novel signaling pathway related to methylmercury toxicity

Abstract

We recently found that oncostatin M (OSM), a kind of inflammatory cytokine, was induced from microglia in the brain of mouse treated with methylmercury. In experiments using cultured cells, extracellularly released OSM was found to be involved in enhancing methylmercury toxicity by binding to TNF receptor 3 (TNFR3). Moreover, administration of an antibody against TNFR3 directly into the mouse brain suppressed neuronal cell death caused by methylmercury. In this symposium, I will introduce the OSM/TNFR3 signaling pathway, which was suggested to function as a mechanism of methylmercury toxicity.