A Study on Methylmercury Concentration in the Umbilical Cords of the Inhabitants Born in the Minamata Area
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概要
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In 1970, the authors discovered that the umbilical cords of newborns were dried and preserved according to an old custom of Minamata and other regions. The authors collected 97 of those umbilical cords and measured the methylmercury concentration. Methylmercury was high in umbili-cal cords of inhabitants born in thisarea, 0.51 to 0.99 ppm in 16 cases, 1.0 to ppm in 9, and more than 2.0 ppm (maximum 5.28 ppm) in 12.<BR>These values weresignificantly higher than those of the controls (0.11±0.03ppm). During the period between 1954 and 1964, methylmercury showed the peak concentrations in the umbilical cords. Epidemiologically, it was correlated with the degree of environmental pollution and the amount of acetaldehyde production. Further-more, methylmercury concentrations were high in the umbilical cords of the patients with conge-nital Minamata disease. More than 0.5 ppm of methylmercurywas, found. in 10 out of 12 cases. Methylmercury was high also in the mentally retarded patients born in the Minamata districts, whose neurologicalsymptoms are not conspicu-ous. More than 0.5 ppm was tound in 11 out of 16 cases. Consequently, these cases are considered to be suffering from incomplete or atypical conge-nital Minamata disease.<BR>In several cases of postnatal (acquired) Minamata diseases, the methylmercury concentration in the umbilical cords was high. It is suggested that in continuous poisoning caused by enviro-nmental pollution, such as Minamata disease, there are some patients who were contaminated by methylmercury in utero, later developed acute clinical symptoms by ingesting fish and shell-fish highly contaminated with methylmercury. High values of methylmercury werefound in the um-bilical cords from some apparently healthy individuals.<BR>It is of utmost importance to demonstrate high levels of methylmercury concentration in the tissues from the patients who are suspected to have methylmercury poisoning. Methylmercury in the umbilical cord may have some significance. However, it may be only an index of a transient contamination at a certain (perinatal) period, but not during the whole prenatal period (Author's abstract).
- 一般社団法人 日本小児神経学会の論文
一般社団法人 日本小児神経学会 | 論文
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