Methylmercury and selenium in vitro effects on harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) lymphocytes : a multidisciplinary approach

Methylmercury (MeHg) bioaccumulates along the food web, leading to the highest levels in tissues of predatory species. It constitutes the predominant form present in the blood of marine mammals. The blood cells, including the immune cells, are therefore exposed to the toxic properties of that chemical. Nevertheless, selenium (Se) is an essential element absorbed concomitantly to MeHg which seems to modulate this toxicity. The goal of this study is to evaluate the immunotoxicity of MeHg on the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) T lymphocytes, highly important in the adaptive immune response, and to investigate the modulating effect of Se on that toxicity. In parallel, the concentrations of MeHg, total mercury (T-Hg) and Se are determined in free-ranging harbour seal blood in order to follow their contamination levels.
The T lymphocytes were isolated from the whole blood, exposed to various MeHg and Se concentrations and the exposure effects were estimated by functional tests including the evaluation of viability, proliferation, metabolic activity, DNA and protein synthesis, and by morphological analysis by transmission electron microscopy.
The mean T-Hg concentration was 172 ± 143 µg/l of whole blood. The T lymphocytes cultures in vitro displayed a decreasing number of viable cells with increasing concentrations of MeHg, and numerous ultrastructural defects. The cells exposed to MeHg notably displayed distortion of the plasmic membrane, nucleus fragmentations, chromatin compaction, swelling mitochondrias and cytoplasmic vacuolisations.
Those results highlighted various immunotoxic effects of MeHg, both at the functional and ultrastructural levels. The antagonistic role of Se on MeHg immunotoxicity is discussed.