Evaluation of Sensory Evoked Potentials in Long Evans Rats Gestationally Exposed to Mercury (Hg0) Vapor

Mercury is known to alter neuronal function and has been shown to cross the placental barrier. These experiments were undertaken to examine if gestational exposure to mercury vapor (Hg0) would result in alterations in sensory neuronal function in adult offspring. Dams were exposed to 0 or 4 mg/m3 Hg0 for 2 h/day from gestational days 6–15. This exposure paradigm has been shown to approximate a maximal tolerated dose of Hg0 for the dams. Between postnatal days 140–168, male and female offspring (one of each gender/dam) were examined using a battery of sensory evoked potentials. Peripheral nerve action potentials, nerve conduction velocity, somatosensory evoked responses (cortical and cerebellar), brainstem auditory evoked responses, pattern evoked potentials, and flash evoked potentials were quantified. Gestational exposure to 4 mg/m3 Hg0 did not significantly alter any of the evoked responses, although there was a suggestion of a decrease in compound nerve actio