Changes in ultrastructure and subcellular mercury distribution in rat liver after separate and combined administrations of mercuric mercury and selenite

Abstract

AbstractThe ultrastructural changes and the subcellular mercury distribution in the liver of rats, which were injected with HgCl2 and/or Na2SeO3, were studied using electron microscopy and electron microscopic histochemical methods. Mercuric chloride (10 μmol per kg body weight) caused heavy cell damage both in hepatic parenchymal cells and in reticuloendothelial cells. Selenite (10 μmol per kg body weight) simultaneously administered had little influence upon the morphological feature of hepatic injury caused by mercuric chloride. However, the density of fine gold grains, which display the mercury deposits, appeared to be higher in the livers of rats treated with mercury plus selenite than in those administered mercury alone. In both groups of rats (those which received mercury alone and those which received mercury plus selenite), mercury was predominantly deposited in Kupffer cells and localized in lysosomal dense bodies. Also, in hepatic parenchymal cells, mercury was mainly deposited in the lysosomal dense bodies neighbouring bile canaliculus, although the level of mercury estimated by the density of gold grains seemed to be lower than that in Kupffer cells.