Mercury Tri-Test: Mercury Speciation Analysis and Compartment-Ratio Analysis for Body Burden and Excretion Indices WITHOUT Provocation Christopher W. Shade, PhD Andrew Elias, CLSSBB Quicksilver Scientific, LLC Lafayette, CO 80026 (303)531-0861 www.quicksilverscientific.com
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Mercury Tri-Test: Mercury Speciation Analysis and Compartment-Ratio Analysis for Body Burden and Excretion Indices WITHOUT
Provocation
Christopher W. Shade, PhDAndrew Elias, CLSSBB
Quicksilver Scientific, LLCLafayette, CO 80026
(303)531-0861www.quicksilverscientific.com
Mercury Testing• Most Common method now is the “Challenge Test”
– No information on form of mercury– Large dose of potentially harmful chelation compound– No information on excretion capacity– Misleadingly believed to reveal “Body Burden”
• Quicksilver Scientific Tri-test uses Mercury Speciation Testing (separation of forms of mercury) and comparisons of different sample types– Clearly Reveals source of mercury and bodily levels– Gives index of excretion ability for each form of mercury
Forms and Sources of Mercury
• MeHg - Methylmercury– Organomercurial; found in fish; Also formed
in gut from amalgam mercury
• Hg0 – Elemental Mercury– The metal form; liquid and gas forms; dental amalgam
• HgII – Inorganic Mercury– The salt, formed by oxidation of Hg0 in blood and mouth
• EtHg - Ethylmercury– Synthetic organomercurial; antimicrobial– Ends up mostly as inorganic mercury
Pathways In – Dental Amalgam
Hg0 breaks down to inorganic mercury (HgII).
Hg0 distributes throughout body and nervous
system.
Image from the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology.
HgII accumulates in the nervous system, liver,
and kidney.
Hg0 released from amalgam and inhaled with 80% uptake in the lungs.
Amalgams: Pathway of Exposure
80% Uptake
Pathways In – Fish Consumption
MeHg
MeHg
Chemical reactions in the gut add MeHg to an amino
acid.
Fish contaminated with methylmercury (MeHg) get
eaten.
MeHg diffuses out of the gut and circulates
throughout the body, because it gets mistaken
as an amino acid.
Methylmercury accumulates in
the body.
Seafood: Pathway of Exposure
95% Uptake
Pathways In – Vaccines
EtHg
HgII
accumulates in the body.
EtHg distributes throughout the body and
nervous system.
EtHg probably does not leave the body, but enters tissues and breaksdown into inorganic mercury