A comparative study of the toxicity of mercury dichloride and methylmercury, assayed by the Frog Embryo Teratogenesis Assay-Xenopus (FETAX)

Summary — The Frog Embryo Teratogenesis Assay–Xenopus (FETAX) is a powerful and flexible bioassay that makes use of the embryos of the anuran amphibian Xenopus laevis. The FETAX can detect xenobiotics that affect embryonic development, when mortality, teratogenicity and growth inhibition are used as endpoints. The FETAX was used to compare the embryotoxic and teratogenic potentials of two chemical species of mercury: inorganic mercury(II) chloride (HgCl2) and organic methylmercury chloride (MeHgCl). MeHgCl, with an estimated median lethal concentration [LC50] of 0.313µM and a median teratogenic concentration [TC50] of 0.236µM, showed a higher toxicity than HgCl2, with estimated LC50 and TC50 values of 0.601µM and 0.513µM, respectively. On the basis of these results, HgCl2 and MeHgCl can be classified as “slightly teratogenic compounds”, as the ratio of LC50/TC50 is less than 1.5. There was a significant deviation from the commonly described monotonic behaviour of the concentration–response curves, suggesting a hormetic effect of both species of mercury. Uptake experiments, followed by neutron activation analysis, showed a higher incorporation of mercury in embryos exposed to MeHgCl compared with those exposed to HgCl2. Interestingly, Hg-exposed embryos showed a higher content of selenium and zinc than did control embryos.