Inhalation of mercury vapor can cause the toxic effects on rat kidney.

ABSTRACT

Dental amalgam has been used in dentistry as a filling material. The filler comprises mercury (Hg). It is considered one of the most important and widespread environmental pollutants, which poses a serious potential threat for the humans and animals. However, mercury deposition affects the nervous, cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, and especially renal systems. In most animals' species and humans, the kidney is one of the main sites of deposition of mercury and target organ for its toxicity. In this study, the effects of mercury intake on kidney in rats were searched. For the this purpose; we used 24 adult female Wistar albino rats (200 g in weight) obtained from Experimental Research and Application Center of Atatürk University with ethical approval. Besides, they were placed into a specially designed glass cage. Along this experiment for 45 days, subjects were exposed to (1 mg/m(3)/day) mercury vapor. However, no application was used for the control subjects. At the end of the experiment, kidney samples were obtained from all subjects and processed for routine light microscopic level and stereological aspect were assessed. Finally, according to our results, mercury affects the histological features of the kidney. That means, the severe effects of mercury has been shown using stereological approach, which is one of the ideal quantitative methods in the current literature. In this study, it was detected that chronic exposure to mercury vapor may lead to renal damage and diseases in an experimental rat model.