The Effect of Mercury Chloride and Boric Acid on Rat Erythrocyte Enzymes

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of mercury chloride and boric acid on rat (Wistar albino) erythrocyte: glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), 6-phosphoglucona-te dehydrogenase (6PGD), thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) enzymes in vivo, and the rat erythrocyte G6PD enzyme in vitro. In the in vivo study, 24 male rats were divated into three different groups: control (C), mercury chloride (M), and mercury chloride + boric acid (M + BA). At the completion of this study, a significant degree of inhibition for both G6PD and GST enzyme activity was observed in the M groups when compared to the C group (p < 0.05), and no significant effect was observed in the 6PGD enzyme. However, there was significantly increased TrxR and GR enzyme activity of both the M and M + BA groups (p < 0.05). In the in vitro study, the G6PD enzyme from rat erythrocytes was purified with 2',5'-ADP Sepharose-4B affinity chromatography, and the effect of both mercury chloride and boric acid on the enzyme activity was investigated. The results showed that boric acid increased the G6PD enzyme activity while the mercury ions that inhibited the enzyme activity (IC50 values of 346μM and Ki values of 387μM) were noncompetitive.