[Biodistribution studies on selenium and mercury in mice using instrumental neutron activation analysis]

An attempt was made to compare the Se and Hg abundance's in liver, kidneys and blood after simultaneous intraperitoneal injections of inorganic mercury (as HgCl2) and SeO2 or organic Se-compound (i.e. seleno-cystine, seleno-methionine or selenodiglutathione). Instrumental neutron activation analysis was applied as the analytical method due to the advantages of both its sensitivity and chemically non-destructive procedure. No neurological or other lesion symptoms of Hg and Se intoxication were found. Especially high concentrations of Hg and Se in liver and blood were found after simultaneous i.p. injections of HgCl2 and Se-compounds. Moreover, significantly high abundance's of Se and Hg in liver and blood were found after simultaneous injections of seleno-methionine and HgCl2. On the other hand, only for kidneys the Hg content after the single injections of HgCl2 was considerably higher in comparison with the simultaneous injections of Hg and Se. We suggest that Se-compounds protects against renal lesions by decreasing the concentration of Hg in kidneys. Hg2+ ions are bounded by selenohydryl groups of the metabolites of injected Se-compounds. Moreover, the binding yield of Hg2+ ions with the metabolites of Se-compounds depends upon the chemical form of injected Se-compounds.