SRXRF study of trace elements in hippocampus of pup rats after prenatal and postnatal exposure to low-level mercury

The damage in the pup rat brain with low-level mercury exposure, and the concentration variation of trace elements in the rat hippocampus was determined by synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence technique (SRXRF). Meanwhile, the levels and activities of glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in the hippocampus were also measured. The results showed that the low dose of inorganic mercury prenatal and postnatal exposure could lead to the significant increase of both copper and zinc contents and remarkable decrease of iron content in pup rat brain. Compared to the control group, the activities of antioxidant enzymes such as GSH-Px, SOD, the contents of GSH and MDA in the pup rat hippocampus of mercury-exposed group fell down obviously.