Abstract
Mercury is a heavy metal found in organic and inorganic forms that represents an important toxicant with impact on human health. Mercury can be released in the environment by natural phenoms (i.e., volcanic eruptions), industrial products, waste, or anthropogenic actions (i.e., mining activity). Evidence has pointed to mercury exposure inducing neurological damages related to emotional disturbance, such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia. The mechanisms that underlie these emotional disorders remain poorly understood, although an important role of glutamatergic pathways, alterations in HPA axis, and disturbance in activity of monoamines have been suggested. Ethanol (EtOH) is a psychoactive substance consumed worldwide that induces emotional alterations that have been strongly investigated, and shares common pathophysiological mechanisms with mercury. Concomitant mercury and EtOH intoxication occur in several regions of the world, specially by communities that consume seafood and fish as the principal product of nutrition (i.e., Amazon region). Such affront appears to be more deleterious in critical periods of life, such as the prenatal and adolescence period. Thus, this review aimed to discuss the cellular and behavioral changes displayed by the mercury plus EtOH exposure during adolescence, focused on emotional disorders, to answer the question of whether mercury plus EtOH exposure intensifies depression, anxiety, and insomnia observed by the toxicants in isolation.
Highlights
Exposure to environmental toxicants has impact on human health worldwide
Mercury is an environmental pollutant produced by natural phenoms, industrial and mining activity, as well as by deforestation, which is toxic to the human neurodevelopmental period [1]
Tamashiro et al [32] suggested that animals who intake higher doses of EtOH (5% and 10%) for 10 consecutive days present higher mercury deposits in body tissues, such as the brain, which has been contested by another experimental assay [33]
Summary
Exposure to environmental toxicants has impact on human health worldwide. Mercury is an environmental pollutant produced by natural phenoms, industrial and mining activity, as well as by deforestation, which is toxic to the human neurodevelopmental period [1]. Beyond the detrimental effects of this heavy metal, the concomitant exposure to other neurotoxicants may increase the potential damage on CNS In this sense, we highlight that the ingestion of ethanol (EtOH), which the intake initiates early in adolescence, has been commonly observed in mining regions, and perhaps may synergically intensify the mercury damage [1]. Whereas EtOH effects on adolescence at several patterns of consumption have been extensively investigated, findings on mercury contamination in adolescence are scarce, as well as investigations related to mercury plus EtOH intoxication In this sense, further studies are necessary to respond to the existing scientific gaps. Available literature was searched on Pubmed, with the keywords: mercury and/or ethanol, behavioral disturbance, behavioral alterations, emotional disorders, adolescence, depression, anxiety, and insomnia
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