Estimation of the Biological Half-Life of Methylmercury Using a Population Toxicokinetic Model

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Seongil Jo⁵  Hae Dong Woo⁵  Ho-Jang Kwon¹³  Se-Young Oh²  Jung-Duck Park³  Young-Seoub Hong⁸  Heesoo Pyo¹⁴  Kyung Su Park¹  Mina Ha¹³  Ho Kim⁹  Seok-Joon Sohn⁷  Yu-Mi Kim⁸  Ji-Ae Lim¹³  Sang-Ah Lee^5,12  Sang-Yong Eom^5,10  Byoung-Gwon Kim⁸  Kyoung-Mu Lee^4,5  Jong-Hyeon Lee^5,11  Myung Sil Hwang^5,6  Jeongseon Kim⁵ 

[1] Advanced Analysis Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 130-722, Korea; E-Mail:;Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Human Ecology, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, Korea; E-Mail:;Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 156-756, Korea; E-Mail:;Department of Environmental Health, Korea National Open University, Seoul 110-791, Korea; E-Mail:;Molecular Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Center, Goyang 410-769, Korea; E-Mails:;Food Safety Risk Assessment Division, National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation, Cheongwon 363-700, Korea; E-Mail:;Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 501-746, Korea; E-Mail:;Department of Preventive Medicine and Heavy Metal Exposure Environmental Health Center, Dong-A University, Busan 602-714, Korea; E-Mails:;Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public health, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea; E-Mail:;Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 362-763, Korea; E-Mail:;Institute of Environmental Safety and Protection, NeoEnBiz Co., Bucheon 420-130, Korea; E-Mail:;Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200-701, Korea; E-Mail:;Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan 330-714, Korea; E-Mails:;Molecular Recognition Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 130-722, Korea; E-Mail:

关键词: biological half-life;    dietary exposure;    methylmercury;    one-compartment toxicokinetic model;    population model;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph120809054

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Methylmercury is well known for causing adverse health effects in the brain and nervous system. Estimating the elimination constant derived from the biological half-life of methylmercury in the blood or hair is an important part of calculating guidelines for methylmercury intake. Thus, this study was conducted to estimate the biological half-life of methylmercury in Korean adults. We used a one-compartment model with a direct relationship between methylmercury concentrations in the blood and daily dietary intake of methylmercury. We quantified the between-person variability of the methylmercury half-life in the population, and informative priors were used to estimate the parameters in the model. The population half-life of methylmercury was estimated to be 80.2 ± 8.6 days. The population mean of the methylmercury half-life was 81.6 ± 8.4 days for men and 78.9 ± 8.6 days for women. The standard deviation of the half-life was estimated at 25.0 ± 8.6 days. Using the direct relationship between methylmercury concentrations in blood and methylmercury intake, the biological half-life in this study was estimated to be longer than indicated by the earlier studies that have been used to set guideline values.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.