Mercury toxicity: interactions with nutrients

汞是一种全球性污染物，有强有力的证据表明，到2050年，汞的排放量，特别是燃煤电厂的排放量将增加50%。汞是一种已知的神经毒物，可对世界各地不同生态系统中的鱼类、野生动物和人类种群的健康产生不利影响。我们研究计划的总体目标是了解汞等环境污染物的不利影响的机制，并开发生物标记物来评估它们对生态系统健康的影响。越来越多的生态学和流行病学研究表明，硒(Se)和长链多不饱和脂肪酸(PUFAs)等营养物质可以调节汞的毒性。这个五年计划的目标是了解汞、硒和多不饱和脂肪酸相互作用的潜在分子机制，并评估这些影响的生理和生态后果。渥太华大学提供的优秀设施和合作将使我能够使用：1)最先进的方法来研究不同组织中营养物质和汞的相互作用；2)蛋白质组学技术来研究毒性机制。我们将进行基于实验室的研究，以探索营养物质和汞相互作用的分子机制。我们在Keystone哺乳动物物种(包括人类)中研究相同终点的方法是新颖和相关的。我们还有能力将尖端基础实验的结果用于应用野生动物和流行病学研究。我们的研究结果将被用于建立生态系统健康管理的门槛。

Mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant and there is strong evidence that the emission, in particular from coal burning power plant, will increase by 50% in 2050. Hg is a known neurotoxicant and can have adverse effects on the health of fish, wildlife and human populations in different ecosystems around the world. The over arching goal of our research program is to understand the mechanisms of the adverse effects of environmental contaminants such as Hg and to develop biomarkers to assess their effects on ecosystem health. There is increasing evidence from ecological and epidemiological studies that nutrients such as selenium (Se) and long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) can modulate the toxicity of Hg. The objectives of this five year program are to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms of the interactive effects of Hg, Se and PUFAs and to evaluate the physiological and ecological consequences of these effects. The excellent facilities and collaborations provided by the University of Ottawa will allow me to use: 1) the state-of-the-art methods to study the nutrient-Hg interactions in different tissues and 2) proteonomic techniques to study the mechanisms of toxicity We will conduct laboratory based studies to investigate the molecular mechanism of nutrient and Hg interactions. Our approach of studying the same endpoints in keystone mammalian species (including human) is novel and relevant. We also have the capacity to use the findings from cutting-edge basic experiments for applied wildlife and epidemiological studies. Our results will be used to establish thresholds for ecosystem health management purposes.