Skip to main content
Publications | Persons | Institutes | Projects
[ report an error in this record ]basket (0): add | show Print this page

Absence of selenium protection against methylmercury toxicity in harbour seal leucocytes in vitro
Das, K.; Dupont, A.; De Pauw-Gillet, M.-C.; Debier, C.; Siebert, U. (2016). Absence of selenium protection against methylmercury toxicity in harbour seal leucocytes in vitro. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 108(1-2): 70-76. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.04.060
In: Marine Pollution Bulletin. Macmillan: London. ISSN 0025-326X; e-ISSN 1879-3363, more
Peer reviewed article  

Available in  Authors 

Keywords
    Mammalia [WoRMS]; Phoca vitulina Linnaeus, 1758 [WoRMS]
    Marine/Coastal
Author keywords
    Marine mammals; Harbour seal; Phoca vitulina; Methylmercury; Selenium;Lymphocytes; In vitro approach

Authors  Top 
  • Das, K., more
  • Dupont, A., more
  • De Pauw-Gillet, M.-C.
  • Debier, C., more
  • Siebert, U.

Abstract
    Previous studies described high concentrations of mercury (Hg) and selenium (Se) in the blood of harbour seals, Phoca vitulina from the North Sea. In the present study, we evaluated the in vitro potential protective effects of sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) and selenomethionine (SeMet) on cell proliferation of harbour seal lymphocytes exposed to MeHgCl 0.75 μM. In vitro exposure of ConA-stimulated T lymphocytes resulted in severe inhibition of DNA synthesis, likely linked to severe loss of mitochondrial membrane potential at 0.75 μM. Neither selenite nor SeMet showed a protective effect against MeHg toxicity expressed at the T lymphocyte proliferation level for harbour seals. Selenite and SeMet did not show negative effects regarding lymphocyte proliferation and mitochondrial membrane potential.To conclude, our results clearly demonstrated that MeHg affected in vitro immune cells exposure with no protective effects of selenium at a molar ratio Hg:Se of 1:10 in harbour seals from the North Sea.

All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy Top | Authors