SOURCE
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/01/06/dr-shade-on-mercury-exposure.aspx?e_cid=20130106_SNL_Art_1

On Forms of Mercury, Mercury Testing, Detox

mercury’s toxicity = "inappropriate binding”
“Mercury is never a free ion..." rather is always bound covalently to ligand
favorite ligand is sulfur, esp reduced sulfur in thiol
metals (Zi, Cu, Fe) are held in place by thiol groups
thiols are in cysteine: N-acetyl cysteine, glutathione
Hg prefers thiol a billion x more than zinc
thiols on cell membranes bind mercury
other forms of mercury cross BBB

mercury dysregulates your entire system
mercury toxicity symptoms difficult to pin down
neuro: depression, anxiety, hyperactivity, fatigue
mercury destroys the enzyme tubulin, which builds microtubules (role in intracellular communication)

SOURCES OF HG EXPOSURE

TWO MAIN FORMS OF HG are ethyl and methyl
different targets in the body

Ethylmercury (inorganic mercury) MOST TOXIC, from dental amalgams and vaccines, does not accumulate well and it does not get into organisms very well

Methylmercury (organic mercury), penetrates body well but less toxic than inorganic, from fish consumption, coal, bioaccumulative form, fish have 1-10 million x more than is in water

Phenylmercury was used in early paints

DOSES
punctuated or periodic high doses have more ability to penetrate the brain than distributed doses
(badness of vaccines)

COAL BURNING AND AUTISM ASSOCIATED
“The one paper that has shed some light on coal-burning was the Palmer paper coming out of Texas, where they found higher rates of autism with proximity to coal-burning power plants. But that’s the only [study] that’s done that,” Dr. Shade says. “From all the data that I have looked at, from all the people that we have measured... fish and amalgam dominated everything. People who don’t have any fish consumption and don’t have any amalgam exposure, we very rarely see any significant amounts of mercury in.”

OLD TESTING
Old: standard mercury test: challenge using a chelator (DMPS or DMSA, binds both ethyl and methyl) then measure urine contents, but you don't know which kind, PS gets more inorganic mercury, SA gets more lead
can also measure the mercury content in hair and blood
all of these tests have drawbacks and shortfalls, inaccurate measures of total mercury load
urine levels: if renal fx is good, excretion correlates linearly with inorganic Hg in blood. if renal fx is low, urine Hg output is low, blood levels will be higher.
best: compare blood and urine levels to know if you're detoxing inorganic
hair is good marker of fish-based methyl mercury but says nothing about ethyl mercury from amalgams/vaccines

"Hair testing only shows organic (methyl) mercury load
Urine testing only shows inorganic (ethyl) mercury load
Blood testing for total mercury load really only gives you a measure of your mercury from fish consumption, while mercury from dental amalgams and vaccines remains ‘hidden’
Challenge testing can give false low readings if your kidneys are not functioning well, and each of the chelators are biased toward one form or mercury or the other, which can give you a misleading measurement of your mercury load"

NEW TESTING
Mercury Speciation—the Next Generation of Mercury Testing
Dr. Shade has developed a testing method that far surpasses all of these earlier tests
mercury speciation from blood sample
measures different forms of mercury in body
helps determine source
helps evaluation renal elimination
http://www.quicksilverscientific.com/
Primary care provider can order for you
In direct access states like Colorado patients can order for selves: get blood drawn and sent
Retail for test is $350
unmatched sensitivity
low detection limit: 10 parts/trillion (Lab Quest or Lab Corp, low end limit is 1 or .5 ppb)
cleaned up: under 0.05nanograms/mg for dental form, a little more for methylmercury (below 2ng/L, or below 1 if "they have shown some sensitivity to mercury")

Dr. Christopher Shade
former organic farmer
PhD from the University of Illinois
studked metal-ligand interaction in the environment
specialized in environmental- and analytical chemistry of mercury
developed and commercialized technology for mercury speciation analysis
separates and measures different forms of mercury
started Quicksilver Scientific then started to study clinical detox from mercury

RANGES
Methylmercury is almost always higher than the ethylmercury if exposed to both
methylmercury in those with highest loads is 15x more than ethyl, on average

if high inorganic (ethyl) in blood, but low in urine: body is retaining toxicity
“These tend to be the sickest people and have the hardest time detoxifying”
must work on kidneys

if blood methyl goes up, hair methyl should go up too
if not tracking together (high in blood, low in hair) then biochemistry disrupted, cannot mobilize methyl

DETOXING
highly dependent on glutathione and sulfur metabolism
incr glutathione and sulfur-->incr excretion into hair
slow process, a year ish, the sicker you are the longer it takes
slower process when ill
lots of lifestyle changes
even after done, must do another detox due to continuing exposures

"I mean, you’ve got the airborne mercury coming in. You’ve got little bits through the food. Then you have cadmium, arsenic, and lead coming in... you’ve got all the different organic toxins... pesticides and herbicides... chlorinated organics... mold-based toxins... toxins from organisms that live in your GI tract, if you don’t have a perfect biotic flora... "

NATURAL DETOX
major disparities among population
core of detox is glutathIone system
good GSH in cells
active phase II enzyme glutathione S-transferase, prys mercury off cellular proteins and links it with GSH
need multidrug resistance proteins (transport prots in cell memb) that push complex out of cell and into blood
another transport prot in liver pulls it from blood
another one dumps it into bile-->small intestine
more transport prots in kidneys
failure of any one leads to bioaccumulation

WAYS TO OPTIMIZE GSH SYSTEM
oral or IV glutathione: expensive and ineffective. oral: peptidases break it down in gut.
BEST BUT PRICEY: liposomal delivery of glutathione, contains phosphatidylcholine
(phosphatidylcholine repairs cell membranes which are badly damaged by metals
and the free radical cascades that are catalyzed by them) $$$
BEST BUDGET WAY: consume cysteine in foods that are naturally high in it.
Works for those who can make GSH and not for those who can't.
FOODS: Whey protein, esp organic, grass-fed whey protein contains some of the highest levels of cysteine

also need to upregulate the activity of enzymes:
Glutathione S-transferase
Glutathione synthetase
Gamma-glutamylcysteine ligase
Phylogenomics—Gene Activation through Superfoods
trigger upregulation of all together by activating promoter region genes called "antiox response element"

FOODS THAT UPREG GSH
“superfoods”
"use the whey protein in conjunction with some of these polyphenolic antioxidants, with the crucifer family, or garlic"
polyphenol antioxidants and other antioxidants incl vit C
sulfur containing foods and supps

POLYPHENOLS
polyphenolic antioxidants: green tea extract, pine bark extract
Haritaki = ?, a blend called Clear Way Cofactors contains best polyphenolics

SULFUR: GARLIC, CRUCIFERS
garlic contains sulfur molecules that trigger the translocation of the Nrf2 proteins into your cells
-->upregulation of your glutathione system
allicin is NOT the chemical responsible for upregulating the enzyme system
allicin is part of antimicrobial effect
taking garlic oil capsules is just as good as eating raw garlic, maybe even better, for upreg GSH

SULFUR: ALA
IS ANOTHER SULFUR COMPOUND?
lipoic acid, helps regenerate vitamin C and E
potent upregulator of the glutathione system and specifically R-lipoate
without the lipoic acid, you have got two forms: S-lipoic acid and R-lipoic acid
S-lipoic does not fit into the biochemistry
R form can upregulate the glutathione system, fits Nrf2 mechanism
they sell a liposome that’s a mixture of vitamin C and R-lipoic acid, can take high doses s bowel intolerance

OTHER ANTIOX
ASTAXANTHIN: antiox for entire cell, both water and fat soluble
VIT C: constantly bringing electrons into the system, plus immune effects, not useful alone

CHLORELLA
help detoxify your system via your gut
binds to the heavy metals present in your gut
Prevents absorption and/or re-absorption from bile
Prevents the metals from irritating your intestines, causing inflam