RESUMEN
The aims of this work were to compare the effects of methyl mercury chloride and thimerosal on neurite/process outgrowth and microtubule proteins in differentiating mouse N2a neuroblastoma and rat C6 glioma cells. Exposure for 4h to sublethal concentrations of both compounds inhibited neurite outgrowth to a similar extent in both cells lines compared to controls. In the case of N2a cells, this inhibitory effect by both compounds was associated with a fall in the reactivity of western blots of cell extracts with monoclonal antibody T1A2, which recognises C-terminally tyrosinated alpha-tubulin. By contrast, reactivity with monoclonal antibody B512 (which recognises total alpha-tubulin) was unaffected at the same time point. These findings suggest that decreased tubulin tyrosination represents a neuron-specific early marker of mercury toxicity associated with impaired neurite outgrowth.
