儿童汞暴露神经毒分子机制研究进展

摘要

Mercury is one of the ubiquitous environmental neurotoxins which causes adverse effects on the development of children's neural system.Considering the severe neurotoxicity of mercury,finding and minimizing the sources of mercury exposure is essential for children's health.Amongst the mercury compounds,the toxicity of organic mercury is the most severe.Methyl mercury (MeHg) is the most detrimental and represents a major source of human exposure of mercury.Recent studies on molecular mechanisms of MeHg neurotoxicity points out that MeHg mainly mediates its toxic effects through the impairment of intraceilular calcium homeostasis,alteration of glutamate homeostasis,and oxidative stress.These concepts provide the biochemical interpreting of MeHg neurotoxicity.This review provides the current information on mercury,including environmental sources,neurotoxicity,and molecular mechanisms of MeHg-induced neurotoxicity.It will be helpful to find some effective ways of interfering children mercury exposure.%汞广泛存在于环境中且有很强的神经毒性,儿童未成熟的神经系统对汞特别敏感,长期低剂量汞暴露可引起儿童神经系统发育障碍,及时找出汞暴露源并消除或减少汞暴露有利于促进儿童健康成长.各种形态的汞中以有机态的甲基汞毒性最强,鱼贝类中的甲基汞是日常生活中有机汞暴露的主要来源.研究表明,甲基汞主要通过扰乱细胞内的钙离子稳态,改变中枢神经系统谷氨酸平衡以及诱导产生氧化应激起神经毒作用.该文就儿童汞暴露的来源、神经毒和神经毒分子机制进行综述,为寻找有效的儿童汞暴露干预措施提供参考.