Chemical Forms of Mercury and Selenium in Fish Following Digestion with Simulated Gastric Fluid

Fish is a major dietary source of potentially neurotoxic methylmercury compounds for humans. It is also a rich source of essential selenium. We have used in situ mercury L(III)-edge and selenium K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy to chemically characterize the methylmercury and selenium in both fresh fish and fish digested with simulated gastric fluid. For the mercury, we confirm our earlier finding [ Harris et al. ( 2003 ) Science 301 , 1203 ] that the methylmercury is coordinated by a single thiolate donor, which resembles cysteine, and for the selenium, we find a mixture of organic forms that resemble selenomethionine and an aliphatic selenenyl sulfide such as Cys-S-Se-Cys. We find that local chemical environments of mercury and selenium do not change upon digestion of the fish with simulated gastric fluid. We discuss the toxicological implications for humans consuming fish.