Mercuric chloride affects protein secretion in rat primary hepatocyte cultures: A biochemical ultrastructural, and gold immunocytochemical study

The toxicity of mercury on hepatocytes was studied at the ultrastructural, biochemical, and immunocytochemical levels. Albumin metabolism was examined because it is a representative liver‐specific function. A novel cytochemical method using the protein A‐gold technique for the in situ localization of albumin in hepatocyte cultures was applied. Primary rat hepatocyte cultures were exposed to increasing HgCI2 concentrations. Cytotoxicity was assessed by measuring the release of lactic dehydro‐genase from the cells. At the highest exposure concentration tested (50 μM), Hg was found to be significantly cytotoxic in contrast to what occurred at 5.0 and 0.5 μM. The level of albumin secreted, as measured by ELISA, was decreased by approximately 38% at 5.0 μM HgCI2 and was found not to be different from that of controls at lower concentrations. The ultrastructural analysis showed that hepatocytes treated with 5.0 μM HgCI2 undergo drastic morphological changes such as a decreased number of ribosomes associated wit...