The Influence of the Size of the Dose on the Distribution and Elimination of Inorganic Mercury, Hg(NO3)2, in the Rat

Abstract

The influence of the size of the dose of inorganic mercury on the distribution and elimination of mercury was studied by intraperitoneally injecting three groups of rats with 1, 10 and 100 μg Hg as Hg(NO₃)₂, serially sacrificing the rats during a 70-day period, and then analyzing the rats' organs for Hg. The excreta from four rats in each group were collected daily for mercury analysis. Only in the case of the kidney was there an effect on the distribution—the fraction of the injected dose stored in the kidney increased with increasing dose. The gastrointestinal tract was found to be a major avenue of elimination in all cases. However, as the size of the dose increased, the urinary route played an increasingly important role during the days immediately after injection.