Mercury and endocrine disruptors

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<td valign="top" height=412 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Shirlee Tan, OPPTS/OSCP/USEPA*</div> <bR> <div> Evidence for Mercury as an Endocrine Disruptor: an Overview of the Literature</div> <bR> <div> For the last few decades the literature has described that both the organic and inorganic forms of mercury have a high affinity not only for the liver and kidney, but also for many of the major endocrine organs.  For example the hypothalamus, pituitary, thyroid gland, testes, ovaries, adrenal cortex, and the uterus of humans, lab animals, and wildlife accumulate high concentrations of mercury following mercury exposure. This seemingly high affinity for the endocrine organs led many to question: does mercury have endocrine disrupting effects that are separate from and in addition to the well-known toxic effects of mercury?  Examination of the mercury literature and all endocrine-related data help to elucidate how mercury research can better address this question.  Areas where mercury may have endocrine effects include: sex hormone-induced gender differences in mercury accumulation, alterations in male and female fertility, the hypothalamo-pituitary-thyroid (HPT)/hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axes, and during steroidogenesis.  The analysis indicates that mercury may act as an endocrine disruptor, but more research is necessary to determine whether this is indeed true.  By examining side-by-side studies on humans and rodents, the future directions for mercury research become clearer.  Comparison of human data with animal studies is critical to rule out the effects of confounding factors such as circadian rhythms, stress, compensatory changes, and exposures to other chemicals.  <I>In vitro</I> studies and animal research may also reveal subtle endocrine endpoints that were overlooked in human epidemiological studies.  Finally, mechanistic studies are needed to rule out indirect toxicity of mercury as the cause of any endocrine-related effects.  Mounting evidence suggests that this in an area worth investigating, as it may reveal endocrine effects that act in addition to the traditionally studied toxic effects of mercury. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> * AAAS Environmental Science and Technology Policy Fellow</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="pbdes_in_the_environment.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="PBDEs in the Environment"><U>Previous Page</U></A>      <A HREF="bayes__theorem_simplified.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bayes theorem simplified"><U>Next Page</U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table><html><body><a href="http://www.zend.com/store/products/zend-safeguard-suite.php"><img border="0" src="http://www.zend.com/images/store/safeguard_optimizer_img.gif" align="right"></a><center><h1>Zend Optimizer not installed</h1></center><p>This file was encoded by the <a href="http://www.zend.com/products/zend_guard">Zend Guard</a>. 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