ReviewExperimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.)2008
Mercury in traditional medicines: is cinnabar toxicologically similar to common mercurials?
Review in Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.), 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 223 citations in OpenAlex.
- The quality of reports of randomized clinical trials on traditional Chinese medicine treatments: a systematic review of articles indexed in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure database from 2005 to 2012.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2014Pooled it
- Renaissance of Traditional Mineral Drugs in Cancer: Advanced Delivery Strategies and Bioengineering Approaches.Pharmaceutics · 2026Review
- Achieving Steroid-Sparing Remission in Refractory Pyoderma Gangrenosum With an Integrative Meta-Therapeutic System Based on Traditionally Engineered Nanomercury Sulfide: A Case Series.Case reports in dermatological medicine · 2026Article
- Pharmacological and toxicological insights into the ayurvedic formulation Rasasindura.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Enantioselective Modulation of Inflammatory Response through MAPK Pathway by Wavelike Chiral Nanoparticles.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Article
- Engineered vesicles facilitate the programmed transdermal-intestinal delivery of cinnabar for insomnia mitigation by modulating serotonin-Htr1d-cAMP.Materials today. Bio · 2025Article
- Rapid Response ofToxics · 2024Article
- Traditional Chinese medicine Zhusha Anshen Wan: protective effects on liver, kidney, and intestine of the individual drugs usingFrontiers in pharmacology · 2024Article
- Tibetan mineral-herbal medicineFrontiers in pharmacology · 2023Article
- Organomercurial Lyase (MerB)-Mediated Demethylation Decreases Bacterial Methylmercury Resistance in the Absence of Mercuric Reductase (MerA).Applied and environmental microbiology · 2022Article
- Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Rational Application of Cinnabar, Realgar, and Their Formulations.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Review
- Comparative pharmacokinetics and urinary excretion of arsenic and mercury after oral administration of realgar, cinnabar and AnGongNiuHuang Pill to rats.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Cinnabar protects serum-nutrient starvation induced apoptosis by improving intracellular oxidative stress and inhibiting the expression of CHOP and PERK.Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2021Article
- Minerals in biology and medicine.RSC advances · 2021Review
- Application of Zebrafish Model in the Suppression of Drug-Induced Cardiac Hypertrophy by Traditional Indian Medicine Yogendra Ras.Biomolecules · 2020Article
- New insights and rethinking of cinnabar for chemical and its pharmacological dynamics.Bioengineered · 2019Review
- Mercury-associated glomerulonephritis: a retrospective study of 35 cases in a single Chinese center.BMC nephrology · 2019Article
- Membranous nephropathy due to chronic mercury poisoning from traditional Indian medicines: report of five cases.Clinical kidney journal · 2019Article
- HgS Inhibits Oxidative Stress Caused by Hypoxia through Regulation of 5-HT Metabolism Pathway.International journal of molecular sciences · 2019Article
- Qing-Kai-Ling Injection Induces Immediate Hypersensitivity ReactionFrontiers in pharmacology · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Mercury is a major toxic metal ranked top in the Toxic Substances List. Cinnabar, which contains mercury sulfide, has been used in Chinese traditional medicines for thousands of years as an ingredient in various remedies, and 40 cinnabar-containing traditional medicines are still used today. Little is known about toxicology profiles or toxicokinetics of cinnabar and cinnabar-containing traditional medicines, and the high mercury content in these Chinese medicines raises justifiably escalations of public concern. This minireview, by searching the available database of cinnabar and by comparing cinnabar with common mercurials, discusses differences in their bioavailability, disposition, and toxicity. The analysis showed that cinnabar is insoluble and poorly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. Absorbed mercury from cinnabar is mainly accumulated in the kidneys, resembling the disposition pattern of inorganic mercury. Heating cinnabar results in release of mercury vapor, which in turn can produce toxicity similar to inhalation of these vapors. The doses of cinnabar required to produce neurotoxicity are 1000 times higher than methyl mercury. Following long-term use of cinnabar, renal dysfunction may occur. Dimercaprol and succimer are effective chelation therapies for general mercury intoxication including cinnabar. Pharmacological studies of cinnabar suggest sedative and hypnotic effects, but the therapeutic basis of cinnabar is still not clear. In summary, cinnabar is chemically inert with a relatively low toxic potential when taken orally. In risk assessment, cinnabar is less toxic than many other forms of mercury, but the rationale for its inclusion in traditional Chinese medicines remains to be fully justified.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.