Absence of selenium protection against methylmercury toxicity in harbour seal leucocytes in vitro

[en] 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.

Research center :

MARE - Centre Interfacultaire de Recherches en Océanologie - ULiège

Disciplines :

Aquatic sciences & oceanology
Environmental sciences & ecology

Author, co-author :

Das, Krishna ; Université de Liège > Département de Biologie, Ecologie et Evolution > Océanographie biologique

Dupont, Aurélie

De Pauw-Gillet, Marie-Claire ; Université de Liège > Département des sciences biomédicales et précliniques > Histologie - Cytologie

Debier, Cathy

Siebert, Ursula

Language :

English

Title :

Absence of selenium protection against methylmercury toxicity in harbour seal leucocytes in vitro

Publication date :

2016

Journal title :

Marine Pollution Bulletin

ISSN :

0025-326X

Publisher :

Pergamon, Oxford, United Kingdom

Volume :

108

Pages :

70-76

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.04.060

Funders :

F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique [BE]
FRIA - Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture [BE]

Available on ORBi :

since 29 April 2016

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