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Irreversible color vision losses in patients with chronic mercury vapor intoxication

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2008

CLÁUDIA FEITOSA-SANTANA ,
MIRELLA T.S. BARBONI ,
NESTOR N. OIWA ,
GALINA V. PARAMEI ,
ANA LUISA A.C. SIMÕES ,
MARCELO F. DA COSTA ,
LUIZ CARLOS L. SILVEIRA  and
DORA F. VENTURA
CLÁUDIA FEITOSA-SANTANA*
Affiliation:
Núcleo de Neurociências e Comportamento, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Departamento de Psicologia Experimental, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
MIRELLA T.S. BARBONI
Affiliation:
Núcleo de Neurociências e Comportamento, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Departamento de Psicologia Experimental, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
NESTOR N. OIWA
Affiliation:
Núcleo de Neurociências e Comportamento, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Departamento de Psicologia Experimental, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
GALINA V. PARAMEI
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
ANA LUISA A.C. SIMÕES
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicologia Experimental, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
MARCELO F. DA COSTA
Affiliation:
Núcleo de Neurociências e Comportamento, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Departamento de Psicologia Experimental, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
LUIZ CARLOS L. SILVEIRA
Affiliation:
Núcleo de Medicina Tropical, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil Departamento de Fisiologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil
DORA F. VENTURA
Affiliation:
Núcleo de Neurociências e Comportamento, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Departamento de Psicologia Experimental, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Cláudia Feitosa-Santana, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 1721, Bloco A, Sala D9, 05508-900 São Paulo, Brazil. E-mail: claudia@feitosa-santana.com
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Abstract

This longitudinal study addresses the reversibility of color vision losses in subjects who had been occupationally exposed to mercury vapor. Color discrimination was assessed in 20 Hg-exposed patients (mean age = 42.4 ± 6.5 years; 6 females and 14 males) with exposure to Hg vapor during 10.5 ± 5.3 years and away from the work place (relative to 2002) for 6.8 ± 4.2 years. During the Hg exposure or up to one year after ceasing it, mean urinary Hg concentration was 47 ± 35.4 μg/g creatinine. There was no information on Hg urinary concentration at the time of the first tests, in 2002 (Ventura et al., 2005), but at the time of the follow-up tests, in 2005, this value was 1.4 ± 1.4 μg/g creatinine for patients compared with 0.5 ± 0.5 μg/g creatinine for controls (different group from the one in Ventura et al. (2005)). Color vision was monocularly assessed using the Cambridge Colour Test (CCT). Hg-exposed patients had significantly worse color discrimination (p < 0.02) than controls, as evaluated by the size of MacAdam's color discrimination ellipses and color discrimination thresholds along protan, deutan, and tritan confusion axes. There were no significant differences between the results of the study in Ventura et al. (2005) and in the present follow-up measurements, in 2005, except for worsening of the tritan thresholds in the best eye in 2005. Both chromatic systems, blue-yellow and red-green, were affected in the first evaluation (Ventura et al., 2005) and remained impaired in the follow-up testing, in 2005. These findings indicate that following a long-term occupational exposure to Hg vapor, even several years away from the source of intoxication, color vision impairment remains irreversible.

Keywords

Cambridge Colour TestMercury toxicityChromatic discriminationMacAdam's color discrimination ellipsesNeurotoxicology
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , May 2008 , pp. 487 - 491
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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