Green Tea Increases the Concentration of Total Mercury in the Blood of Rats following an Oral Fish Tissue Bolus

Table 1

Plasma pharmacokinetic parameters from Sprague-Dawley rats gavaged with high mercury fish slurry and treated with water, green tea, or DMSA^a,b,c.

	(µg/kg)	(h)	(h^−1)	(h)
Control (water)	31.21 ± 1.50^a	20.33 ± 1.20^a	0.0076 ± 0.0007^a	93.8 ± 7.0^a
Green tea	37.49 ± 2.48^a	22.33 ± 1.96^a	0.0080 ± 0.0008^a	90.9 ± 8.3^a
DMSA	18.64 ± 2.00^b	12.00 ± 0.00^b	0.0241 ± 0.0046^b	33.2 ± 5.0^b

= maximum plasma mercury concentration; = time of maximum plasma mercury concentration; = elimination rate constant; ^bdata are expressed as mean ± SEM.
^cDifferent letters indicate a significant () difference in plasma pharmacokinetic parameters between different treatments.