Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Volume 158, Issue 10, Pages 3103-3107Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2010.06.028
Keywords
Rice; Mercury; Methylmercury; Speciation; Risk assessment; Enzymatic hydrolysis; ICP-MS; LC
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Funding
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- National Natural Science Foundation of P. R. China [20937002]
- State High Technological Development Plan of P.R. China [2009CB421605]
- National High-tech Research and Development Program of China [2008AA06Z335]
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Monomethylmercury (CH3Hg+ and its complexes; MeHg hereafter) is a known developmental neurotoxin. Recent studies have shown that rice (Oryza sativa L) grain grown from mercury (Hg) mining areas may contain elevated MeHg concentrations, raising concerns over the health of local residents who consume rice on a daily basis. An analytical method employing high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) - inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) following enzymatic hydrolysis was developed to analyze the speciation of MeHg in uncooked and cooked white rice grain grown from the vicinity of a Hg mine in China. The results revealed that the MeHg in the uncooked rice is present almost exclusively as CH3Hg-L-cysteinate (CH(3)HgCys), a complex that is thought to be responsible for the transfer of MeHg across the blood brain and placental barriers. Although cooking does not change the total Hg or total MeHg concentration in rice, no CH(3)HgCys is measurable after cooking, suggesting that most, if not all, of the CH(3)HgCys is converted to other forms of MeHg, the identity and toxicity of which remain elusive. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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