Bilaga (öppet brev)
Journal of Neural Transmission (1998) 105: 59-68
Increased blood mercury levels in patients with
Alzheimer's disease
C. Hock1, G. Drasch2, S. Goloiiiboivski1, F. Nüller Spahn1,
B. Willershausen Zönnchen3, P. Schwarz3, U. Hock1,
J. H. Growdon4, and R. M. Nitschs5
1 Department of Psychiatry. University of Basel, Switzerland
2Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Munich. and
3Department of Dentistry, University of 1Mainz, Federal Republic of Germany
4Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. MA. U.S.A.
5Center for Molecular Neurobiology. University of Hamburg, Federal Republic
of Germany
Accepted November 4, 1997
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Summary. Alzheirner's disease (AD) is a common ileurodegenerative disor
der that leads to dementia and death. In addition to several genetic param
eters. various environmental factors may influence the risk of oettine,'AD. In
order to test whether blood levels of the heavy metal mercury are increased in
AD, we measured blood mercury concentrations in AD patients (n = 33), and
compared them to age matched control patients with major depression (MD)
(n = 45), as well as to an additional control group of patients with various non
psychiatric disorders (n = 65). Blood mercury levels were more than two fold
higher in AD patients as compared to both control groups (p = 0.0005, and
p = 0.0000, respectively). In early onset AD patients (n = 13), blood mercury
levels were almost three fold higher as compared to controls (p = 0.0002, and
p = 0.0000, respectively). These increases were unrelated to the patients'
dental status. Linear regression analysis of blood mercury concentrations and
CSF levels of amyloid ß-peptide (Aß) revealed a significant correlation of
It) these measures in AD patients (n = 15, r = 0.7440, p = 0.0015, Pearson type of correlation). These results demonstrate elevated blood levels of mercury in AD, and they suggest that this increase of mercury levels is associated with high CSF levels of Aß, whereas tau levels were unrelated. Possible explanations of increased blood mercury levels in AD include yet unidentified environmental sources or release from brain tissue with the advance in neuronal death.
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