ラットの自発行動に与えるメチル水銀の影響

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The present study was undertaken to investigate the precursory effects of methylmercury poisoning by measuring the locomotor activity of rats.Methylmercury was administered to male rats mixed in the rat food. The period of administration was 30 days. The effects on the rats exposed to a level of 100ppm of methylmercury were evaluated from the 6th week to the time of death, based on the locomotor activity, body weight and food intake.Methylmercury-fed rats showed decreased weight gain and food intake compared with the controls for the first 7 days. When the animals were given methylmercury, the rats began to die at 21 days, 4/4 of rats dying by the 28 days therafter. At the time when all of the experimental rats died, the average body weight had decreased to 52.6% of that of age-matched controls. The mercury concentration in the brain was 22.2±2.2, μg/g after 24 days of methylmercury administration.The levels of locomotor activity were measured by ANIMEX-III daily from the 6th week until the time of death. During the experimental period, the body weights of control rats increased, but locomotor activity did not change. In the nocturnal, diurnal and daily locomotor activities, the time course changes of mercury-treated rats decreased significantly when compared to those of age-matched controls (p<0.05), and then returned to normal values. Methylmercury poisoning is thought to induce several types of developmental behavior. We found a significant relationship between methylmercury-containing-food intake and locomotor activity levels in nocturnal (r=0.45), durnal (r=0.59) and daily (r=0.52) periods (p<0.001) from the time of methylmercury administration to the onset of hind leg crossing symptom. However, a causal relationship after the appearance of this dysfunction has not been demonstrated here.
日本衛生学会の論文

ラットの自発行動に与えるメチル水銀の影響

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