A surface preparation study on the effect of methyl mercury on the sensory hair cell population in the cochlea of the harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus Erxleben, 1777).

Abstract

Surface preparations of the organ of Corti of four harp seals were used to study the effect of prolonged ingestion of methyl mercury on the sensory cell population.A low level of damage to the sensory hair cells occurred throughout the length of the cochlea. Damage was confined to the three outer rows of sensory hair cells especially the third outermost row. At each location along the length of the cochlea, sensory hair cell damage in the seals on a daily dose of 25.0 mg/kg of methyl mercury exceeded the damage to the cochlea of the seals fed on a daily dose of 0.25 mg/kg of methyl mercury. Greatest damage in all the mercury-treated seals occurred in the middle coil of the cochlea. Seals on the higher mercury diet showed a 20–24% sensory cell damage at the upper middle coil, about 19–26 mm from the base, whereas only 4–5% damage was found within same region in the cochlea of the seals on the lower mercury diet.This lack of specificity and low level of damage to the sensory hair cells seems characteristic of mercury and is a direct contrast to other known ototoxic agents.