Andy......Or Anyone??? Spindles?

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" MeHg is both a spindle poison "

Is this the same thing as a sleep spindle?

Donna

An Acad Bras Cienc. 2000 Dec;72(4):497-507.

Cytogenetic damage related to low levels of methyl mercury

contamination in the Brazilian Amazon.

Amorim MI, Mergler D, Bahia MO, Dubeau H, Miranda D, Lebel J,

Burbano RR, Lucotte M.

Departamento de Biologia, CCB, Universidade Federal do Para.

The mercury rejected in the water system, from mining operations and

lixiviation of soils after deforestation, is considered to be the

main contributors to the contamination of the ecosystem in the

Amazon Basin. The objectives of the present study were to examine

cytogenetic functions in peripheral lymphocytes within a population

living on the banks of the Tapajos River with respect to

methylmercury (MeHg) contamination, using hair mercury as a

biological indicator of exposure. Our investigation shows a clear

relation between methylmercury contamination and cytogenetic damage

in lymphocytes at levels well below 50 micrograms/gram, the level at

which initial clinical signs and symptoms of mercury poisoning

occur. The first apparent biological effect with increasing MeHg

hair level was the impairment of lymphocyte proliferation measured

as mitotic index (MI). The relation between mercury concentration in

hair and MI suggests that this parameter, an indicator of changes in

lymphocytes and their ability to respond to culture conditions, may

be an early marker of cytotoxicity and genotoxicity in humans and

should be taken into account in the preliminary evaluation of the

risks to populations exposed in vivo. This is the first report

showing clear cytotoxic effects of long-term exposure to MeHg.

Although the results strongly suggest that, under the conditions

examined here, MeHg is both a spindle poison and a clastogen, the

biological significance of these observations are as yet unknown. A

long-term follow-up of these subjects should be undertaken.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?

cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=11151017 & dopt=Abstract