Absence of selenium protection against methylmercury toxicity in harbour seal leucocytes in vitro

• Published in: Marine Pollution Bulletin
• Main Authors: Das, Krishna, Dupont, Aurélie, De Pauw-Gillet, Marie-Claire, Debier, Cathy, Siebert, Ursula
• Other Authors: MARE - Centre Interfacultaire de Recherches en Océanologie - ULiège
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Pergamon 2016
• Subjects: marine mammals; pollution; mercury; selenium; immune system; Life sciences; Aquatic sciences & oceanology; Environmental sciences & ecology; Sciences du vivant; Sciences aquatiques & océanologie; Sciences de l’environnement & écologie; harbour seal; Phoca vitulina
• Online Access: https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/196892; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.04.060

peer reviewed Previous studies described high concentrations of mercury (Hg) and selenium (Se) in the blood of harbour seals, Phoca vitulina from the North Sea. In the present study, we evaluated the in vitro potential protective effects of sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) and selenomethionine (SeMet) on cell proliferation of harbour seal lymphocytes exposed to MeHgCl 0.75 µM. In vitro exposure of ConA-stimulated T lymphocytes resulted in severe inhibition of DNA synthesis, likely linked to severe loss of mitochondrial membrane potential at 0.75 µM. Neither selenite nor SeMet showed a protective effect against MeHg toxicity expressed at the T lymphocyte proliferation level for harbour seals. Selenite and SeMet did not show negative effects regarding lymphocyte proliferation and mitochondrial membrane potential. To conclude, our results clearly demonstrated that MeHg affected in vitro immune cells exposure with no protective effects of selenium at a molar ratio Hg:Se of 1:10 in harbour seals from the North Sea.