How does mercury metal damage your organs? And i dont mean “It damages your kidneys”. How does the metal cause organ damage?
In: Chemistry
There are a few pathways at work here, depending on the tissues being impacted and the type of mercury, but here’s a broad overview.
In nerve cells mercury seems to promote the formation of damage types of Oxygen [(reactive oxygen species)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_oxygen_species) that damage most tissues in the body. Mercury also interferes with the operation of something called Tubulin, which promotes the formation of structures in nerve cells which support the architecture of the cell. So not only does it lead to cell death, it also creates disorganized growth of nerve cells, which is very damaging.
In terms of other organs the major reason it’s harmful is less understood, but seems to be related to an acceleration of damage to the circulatory system. Hardening of arteries, high blood pressure, and the resulting damage to the kidneys leads to more diffuse damage. The exact mechanism involves here isn’t known, but once again it’s probably the impact of reactive Oxygen species leading to oxidative stress on vulnerable tissues.
If you want some very non-ELI5 details: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3395437/
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