Enzyme changes in the brain, liver and kidney following repeated administration of mercuric chloride

Alterations in the levels of selected enzymes have been studied in the liver, kidney and brain of mouse following mercuric chloride (1 mg/Kg body wt./d) administration for 10, 20 and 30 d. The activity of acid phosphatase increased in all the tissues, the highest increase was recorded in the kidneys which showed as much as 4.5 fold elevation following mercuric chloride administration for 30 d. Although the alkaline phosphatase activity in the liver and the brain increased following HgCl2 administration, the kidneys experienced a tremendous decline in this enzyme following the same treatment. Mercury-induced changes in ATPase were complex inasmuch as the nature and magnitude of these changes varied with the tissue as well as the duration of the treatment. Whereas the liver ATPase declined after all the treatment intervals, this enzyme increased in the kidney and brain following administration of HgCl2 for 10 d. However, both the kidneys and brain registered a substantial fall in ATPase activity when HgCl2 administration was continued for 30 d. The levels of both glucose-6-phosphatase and succinic dehydrogenase decreased in all the tissues following HgCl2 administration. Invariably, the magnitude of decrease was the highest after 30 d treatment with HgCl2.