Estimation of the Biological Half-Life of Methylmercury Using a Population Toxicokinetic Model

Seongil Jo, Hae Dong Woo, Ho-Jang Kwon, Se-Young Oh, Jung-Duck Park, Young-Seoub Hong, Heesoo Pyo, Kyung Su Park, Mina Ha, Ho Kim, Seok-Joon Sohn, Yu-Mi Kim, Ji-Ae Lim, Sang-Ah Lee, Sang-Yong Eom, Byoung-Gwon Kim, Kyoung-Mu Lee, Jong-Hyeon Lee, Myung Sil Hwang, Jeongseon Kim, Seongil Jo, Hae Dong Woo, Ho-Jang Kwon, Se-Young Oh, Jung-Duck Park, Young-Seoub Hong, Heesoo Pyo, Kyung Su Park, Mina Ha, Ho Kim, Seok-Joon Sohn, Yu-Mi Kim, Ji-Ae Lim, Sang-Ah Lee, Sang-Yong Eom, Byoung-Gwon Kim, Kyoung-Mu Lee, Jong-Hyeon Lee, Myung Sil Hwang, Jeongseon Kim

Abstract

Methylmercury is well known for causing adverse health effects in the brain and nervous system. Estimating the elimination constant derived from the biological half-life of methylmercury in the blood or hair is an important part of calculating guidelines for methylmercury intake. Thus, this study was conducted to estimate the biological half-life of methylmercury in Korean adults. We used a one-compartment model with a direct relationship between methylmercury concentrations in the blood and daily dietary intake of methylmercury. We quantified the between-person variability of the methylmercury half-life in the population, and informative priors were used to estimate the parameters in the model. The population half-life of methylmercury was estimated to be 80.2 ± 8.6 days. The population mean of the methylmercury half-life was 81.6 ± 8.4 days for men and 78.9 ± 8.6 days for women. The standard deviation of the half-life was estimated at 25.0 ± 8.6 days. Using the direct relationship between methylmercury concentrations in blood and methylmercury intake, the biological half-life in this study was estimated to be longer than indicated by the earlier studies that have been used to set guideline values.

Keywords: biological half-life; dietary exposure; methylmercury; one-compartment toxicokinetic model; population model.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diagnostic plots of MCMC outputs for population half-life; (a) trace plot and (b) autocorrelation plot for men, and (c) trace plot and (d) autocorrelation plot for women.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Population distribution for methylmercury half-life (years); posterior distribution for (a) total populations, (b) men, and (c) women.

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