Ke Du, Takashi Hirooka, Yu Sasaki, Akira Yasutake, Takato Hara, Chika Yamamoto, Yasuyuki Fujiwara, Yo Shinoda, Tomoya Fujie, Shogo Katsuda, Komyo Eto, Toshiyuki Kaji
Granule cell-selective toxicity of methylmercury in the cerebellum is one of the main unresolved issues in the pathogenesis of Minamata disease. Rats were orally administered methylmercury chloride (10 mg/kg/day) for 5 consecutive days, and their brains were harvested on days 1, 7, 14, 21, or 28 after the last administration for histological examination of the cerebellum. It was found that methylmercury caused a marked degenerative change to the granule cell layers but not to the Purkinje cell layers. The generative change of the granule cell layer was due to cell death, including apoptosis, which occurred at day 21 and beyond after the methylmercury administration...
2023: Journal of Toxicological Sciences