Mercury is a heavy metal with an atomic number of 80 and can be found in air, water, and soil; in-

room temperature it is liquid. It can be found in elemental, inorganic, or even organic forms. The
elemental one occurs in the earth’s crust or weathering of rocks and is found in fishes, but as soon
it is secreted by the urine, is not the most toxic form. (Perez & Mesa, 2011)The inorganic is also
secreted by the body but is the one which generates methylmercury, the most toxic of all chemic
forms, which bioaccumulates in fishes’ muscles and can be biomagnified by big fishes eating other
fish with mercury into their organism. (Mercury and Health, n.d.)

What is methylmercury? It’s an organic cation that has lipophilic properties. Due to the fact it is a
cation, it can be easily bonded to anions like Cl-, OH- and even to sulfidrile (-SH) which is part of
amino acids like cysteine, that at the same time is part of glutathione, so we can confirm a
glutathione methylmercury complex (Glutatión, Todo Lo Que Debes Saber - Cocina Vegan Fácil -
YouTube, n.d.)that is a way to eliminate this toxic element from the body; the elimination of
methylmercury is in the inorganic form with the feces.

Methylmercury can be dissolved into the body in adipose tissue and that produces oxidative stress
in the cells that are involved in the cellular death of neurons. (A Scientist Spilled 2 Drops Organic
Mercury On Her Hand. This Is What Happened To Her Brain. - YouTube, n.d.). The main effects of
this compound are related to adipose tissue, like the central n(Toyama et al., 2021)ervous system
and also the brain, which is the reason why it affects cognitive conditions, which affects brain
development even in the fetus.

A Scientist Spilled 2 Drops Organic Mercury On Her Hand. This Is What Happened To Her Brain. -
YouTube. (2018). Retrieved November 4, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=NJ7M01jV058

Glutatión, todo lo que debes saber - Cocina Vegan Fácil - YouTube. (2021.). Retrieved November 4, 2022,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LFLBdLzDE8

Mercury and health. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-

sheets/detail/mercury-and-health

Perez, D. E. L., & Mesa, G. A. P. (2011). Trascendencia del metilmercurio en el ambiente, la alimentación
y la salud humana. Producción + Limpia, 6 (2), 108–116.

Toyama, T., Hoshi, T., Noguchi, T., Saito, Y., Matsuzawa, A., Naganuma, A., & Hwang, G.-W. (2021).
Methylmercury induces neuronal cell death by inducing TNF-α expression through the ASK1/p38
signaling pathway in microglia. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 1–13. https://0-
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