Potential Association between Methylmercury Neurotoxicity and Inflammation

Methylmercury (MeHg) is the causal substrate of Minamata disease and a major environmental toxi-cant. MeHg is widely distributed, mainly in the ocean, meaning its bioaccumulation in seafood is a consid-erable problem for human health. MeHg has been intensively investigated and is known to induce inflam-matory responses and neurodegeneration. However, the relationship between MeHg-induced inflammatory responses and neurodegeneration is not understood. In the present review, we first describe recent findings showing an association between inflammatory responses and certain MeHg-unrelated neurological diseases caused by neurodegeneration. In addition, cell-specific MeHg-induced inflammatory responses are summa-rized for the central nervous system including those of microglia, astrocytes, and neurons. We also describe MeHg-induced inflammatory responses in peripheral cells and tissue, such as macrophages and blood. These findings provide a concept of the relationship between MeHg-induced inflammatory responses and neurode-generation, as well as direction for future research of MeHg-induced neurotoxicity.