How does mercury poisons us?
Pure mercury is an uncharged, liquid heavy metal that vaporizes into a gas rather easily that has been known for centuries as a deadly poison, but it is still used in dental fillings, fluorescent lights, medical treatments and even in religious ceremonies in some countries. It is also found in substantial amounts as toxic methylmercury in most fish (both freshwater and ocean) especially large predators like swordfish, shark and tuna. In nature mercury is mostly stored in the mineral called Cinnabar or mercury sulfide abbreviated as HgS, which is misleading. Mercury sulfide is a polymer of (-S-Hg-S-Hg-S-)n where essentially every Hg is bound to two sulfurs. The mining of mercury involves the collection of Cinnabar and its exposure to high heat to release mercury vapor which is cooled to liquid form and used in industry. Inadvertently, some Cinnabar is in coal and burning such coal to generate electricity releases mercury vapor which ends up in our environment and in our diets.
Because Mercury (Hg) is an element that likes sulfur it is the bully that reeks havoc in biological systems in so many ways. Mercury displaces essential metals like iron and copper off of their natural binding proteins that require them for activity such as the energy producing electron transport system of the mitochondria and hemoglobin and other iron dependent enzymes or iron storage proteins such as. The body cannot tolerate hydroxy radical producing redox metals such as iron freely floating around destroying normal cellular functions. Excess free Iron displaced in normal mitochondria inside your cell converts them into free radical factories so instead of making energy they make radicals. We believe it was this action that mainly cause the mercury poisoned Ecuadorian gold miners to be so exhausted with chronic fatigue in the Phase 2 clinical trial.
In addition, mercury tightly binds to sulfur in proteins and this sulfur is extremely important to make selective membranes that protect your cells, arteries or brain. Mercury causes tight membranes to become leaky and unable to contain the compartmentalization of organs that are required for good health and this can lead to artery disease even headaches and food allergies associated with leaky gut syndrome. Mercury will also attack proteins such as enzymes that have sulfur to sulfur bonds causing it to unravel be misfolded i.e. change their shape leading to either enzymes that do not function or autoimmune disorders. Some have proposed that he immune system sees these partially misfolded protein and forms antibodies to them but since they are actually your own tissues your immune system mistakenly attacks you.
Many processes in brain need sulfur bonds. Once non-reactive and non-toxic Hg0 vapor is inhaled it can easily pass into the brain area through the blood brain barrier. Once inside it will likely encounter catalase, an abundant enzyme. Catalase strips off two electrons to form reactive and toxic Hg++. This aggressive heavy metal will knock out new nerve growth and even remove myelin from the axon sheath. It also causes the abnormal aggregation of microtubulin and the formation of neurofibillary tangles and other abnormal biochemistry associated with neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
In summary non-reactive mercury vapor (Hgo) is capable of easily passing through all biomembranes and entering the cells of the central nervous system. There it is rapidly converted into the very toxic and reactive Hg2+ which inserts itself in many normal processes to break them and turns your own body and brain into a non-functional biochemical train wreck. How bad and how soon a wreck occurs depends on a number of other factors such as susceptibility, genetics, how much mercury you are/were exposed to (dose), your concurrent burden of other heavy metals and likely several other factors not yet discovered. The best policy is to avoid all exposure to mercury. Emeramide® has been shown also pass through biomembranes and to bind Hg2+ rapidly (Clarke 2012) and may help those exposed to recover some function if given soon after exposure before the damage becomes permanent.