ArticlePloS one2021
Mercury in the human thyroid gland: Potential implications for thyroid cancer, autoimmune thyroiditis, and hypothyroidism.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Thyroid Under Pressure: Heavy Metals, Endocrine Disruptors and Translational Insights into Carcinogenesis and Thyroid Dysfunctions.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Occupational Variation in Thyroid Cancer Incidence in the Nordic Countries.Oncology and therapy · 2026Article
- Article
- Evaluation of the cognitive, physiological, and biomarker effects of heavy metal exposure in Wistar rats.Veterinary world · 2024Article
- Protective Effects of Melatonin against Carcinogen-Induced Oxidative Damage in the Thyroid.Cancers · 2024Review
- Environmental pollutants and phosphoinositide signaling in autoimmunity.Journal of hazardous materials · 2024Review
- Elemental biomapping of human tissues suggests toxic metals such as mercury play a role in the pathogenesis of cancer.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Article
- Literature review of the potential harm and mechanisms of mercury poisoning related to cosmetics.American journal of translational research · 2024Review
- The impact of environmental factors and contaminants on thyroid function and disease from fetal to adult life: current evidence and future directions.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Review
- Origin, dietary exposure, and toxicity of endocrine-disrupting food chemical contaminants: A comprehensive review.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Equine odontoclastic tooth resorption and hypercementosis (EOTRH): microspatial distribution of trace elements in hypercementosis-affected and unaffected hard dental tissues.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Potentially toxic elements in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The toxic metal hypothesis for neurological disorders.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
- Nickel as a potential disruptor of thyroid function: benchmark modelling of human data.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Article
- Fish and the Thyroid: A Janus Bifrons Relationship Caused by Pollutants and the Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Review
- A review of the endocrine disrupting effects of micro and nano plastic and their associated chemicals in mammals.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Review
- The effect of wet-cupping therapy (hijama) in modulating autoimmune activity of Hashimoto's thyroiditis: A pilot controlled study.Saudi medical journal · 2022Article
- A Naphthalimide-Based Fluorescent Probe for the Detection and Imaging of Mercury Ions in Living Cells.ChemistryOpen · 2021Article
- The prevalence of inorganic mercury in human cells increases during aging but decreases in the very old.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Heavy Metals in the Environment and Thyroid Cancer.Cancers · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveMercury and other toxic metals have been suggested to be involved in thyroid disorders, but the distribution and prevalence of mercury in the human thyroid gland is not known. We therefore used two elemental bio-imaging techniques to look at the distribution of mercury and other toxic metals in the thyroid glands of people over a wide range of ages. MATERIALS AND
methodsFormalin-fixed paraffin-embedded thyroid tissue blocks were obtained from 115 people aged 1-104 years old, with varied clinicopathological conditions, who had thyroid samples removed during forensic/coronial autopsies. Seven-micron sections from these tissue blocks were used to detect intracellular inorganic mercury using autometallography. The presence of mercury was confirmed using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry which can detect multiple elements.
resultsMercury was found on autometallography in the thyroid follicular cells of 4% of people aged 1-29 years, 9% aged 30-59 years, and 38% aged 60-104 years. Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry confirmed the presence of mercury in samples staining with autometallography, and detected cadmium, lead, iron, nickel and silver in selected samples.
conclusionsThe proportion of people with mercury in their thyroid follicular cells increases with age, until it is present in over one-third of people aged 60 years and over. Other toxic metals in thyroid cells could enhance mercury toxicity. Mercury can trigger genotoxicity, autoimmune reactions, and oxidative damage, which raises the possibility that mercury could play a role in the pathogenesis of thyroid cancers, autoimmune thyroiditis, and hypothyroidism.
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Registered trials
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.