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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 30
Junior Member
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I thought the forum might be interested in the following abstract that I just ran across on PubMedHere is the text: Selenium and mercury are redistributed to the brain during viral infection in mice. Ilback NG, Lindh U, Minqin R, Friman G, Watt F. Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden. As part of the general host response to coxsackievirus B3 (CB3) infection, the concentration of essential and nonessential trace elements changes in different target organs of the infection. Essential (e.g., Se) and nonessential (e.g., Hg) trace elements are known to interact and affect inflammatory tissue lesions induced by CB3 infection. However, it is unknown whether these changes involve the brain. In the present study, the brain Hg and Se contents were measured through inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and their distribution investigated by means of nuclear microscopy in the early phase (d 3) of CB3 infection in normally fed female Balb/c mice. Because of the infection, the concentration of Hg (4.07 +/- 0.46 ng/g wet wt) and Se (340 +/- 16 ng/g wet wt) in the brain increased twofold for Hg (8.77 +/- 1.65 ng/g wet wt, p < 0.05) and by 36% for Se (461 +/- 150 ng/g wet wt, ns). Nuclear microscopy of brain sections from mice having elevated Se and Hg concentrations failed to find localized levels of the elements high enough to make detection possible, indicating approximately homogeneous tissue distribution. Although the pathophysiological interpretation of these findings requires further research, the increase of Hg in the brain during infection might have an influence on the pathogenesis of the disease. PMID: 16327074 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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