Environmental Toxins: Low-Level Toxicants Harm Brain

Low levels of mercury and lead can damage developing brain cells. This finding might explain why these toxicants can cause such a wide range of mental and medical problems. Mark Noble, a professor of biomedical genetics and neurobiology at the University of Rochester, was the senior author of the study and this study could play a major role in identifying methods of prevention and treatment for those who have been exposed to environmental toxins.

Low-level toxicants can harm brain

"There is a huge problem in toxicology. There are 80,000 to 150,000 environmental toxicants about which we know nothing. Nobody knows how to screen for them or even where to start," said Noble. Noble and his colleagues conducted research in the lab by exposing glial cells to low levels of lead and mercury and found that the cells stopped dividing when exposed to the toxins. The mercury levels used by Nobel had been thought to be safe, but "it turns out they are not," says Noble. When the researchers looked at cellular pathways affected by toxin exposure, they found that toxicants were disrupting cell function by increasing oxidative stress.