Thimerosal in Vaccines May Increase Serotonin Neurons in the Brain

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Thimerosal in Vaccines May Increase Serotonin Neurons in the Brain

Embryonic exposure to thimerosal, a vaccine preservative, affects early

development, say researchers Ida-Eto and colleagues.

Lourdes Salvador

July 02, 2011

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/241124

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*Embryonic* *exposure* to *thimerosal*, an *organomercury* *compound*,

*causes* *abnormal* *early* *development* of *serotonergic* *neurons*.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21669256>

Ida-Eto M, Oyabu A, Ohkawara T, Tashiro Y, Narita N, Narita M.

Neurosci Lett. 2011 Jun 6

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304394011006793

Even though neuronal toxicity due to organomercury compounds is well

known, thimerosal, an organomercury compound, is widely used in

pediatric vaccine preservation. In the present study, we examined

whether embryonic exposure to thimerosal affects early development of

serotonergic neurons. Thimerosal (1mg Hg/kg) was intramuscularly

administered to pregnant rats on gestational day 9 (susceptible time

window for development of fetal serotonergic system), and fetal

serotonergic neurons were assessed at embryonic day 15 using

anti-serotonin antibodies. A dramatic increase in the number of

serotonergic neurons localized to the lateral portion of the caudal

raphe was observed in thimerosal group (1.9-fold increase, p<0.01

compared to control). These results indicate that embryonic exposure to

thimerosal affects early development of serotonergic neurons.