Oral and intramuscular toxicity of inorganic and organic mercury chloride to growing quail

Abstract

The lethal toxicity of inorganic (HgCl 2 ) and organic (CH 3 HgCl) mercury chloride was compared for Coturnix (Japanese quail, Coturnix japonica) of different ages from hatch through adulthood by single‐dose acute oral and intramuscular injections and by a 5‐d dietary trial. Sublethal mercury toxicity was studied by evaluation of plasma and brain cholinesterase activity. CH 3 HgCl was more toxic than HgCl 2 in all tests at each age tested. LD50s consistently increased over the first 4 wk for both acute methods and both mercurials and then stabilized. The striking difference between single‐dose acute and 5‐d dietary tests was that CH 3 HgCl averaged about twice as toxic as HgCl 2 by both acute methods, compared to 100 times as toxic by the dietary method. For example, at 2 wk of age, the oral LD50s for CH 3 HgCl and HgCl 2 were 18 and 42 mg/kg and the dietary LC50s were 47 and 5086 ppm. When birds were fed HgCl 2 and developed clinical signs of intoxication, they could recover once treatment was withdrawn; however, on CH 3 HgCl, clinical signs often commenced after treatment was withdrawn, and then actually intensified for several days and culminated in death.