Abstract
Individuals differ in susceptibility to mercury neurotoxicity, in part, due to underlying genetic differences. This review aims to evaluate the state-of-the-art of the effect of (1) genetics on mercury toxicokinetics and (2) gene-mercury interactions on neurodevelopment and neurotoxicity. We conducted a PubMed search in September 2014 and retrieved 14 studies on the influence of genetics on mercury toxicokinetics and ten on neurological effects of gene-mercury interactions. Genes frequently studied for their influence on mercury toxicokinetics were mainly related to the metabolism of glutathione, but the results were contradictory for most of the genes. The gene-mercury interactions on child neurodevelopment and adult neurotoxicity reported were too few to draw any definite conclusion. So far, candidate gene approaches have not identified any major gene/s modifying the kinetics or toxicity of mercury, suggesting that these might be polygenic traits. More research is highly warranted to clarify if there are vulnerable subgroups to mercury neurotoxicity in humans.