Differential effects of methylmercury intoxication in the rat's barrel field as evidenced by NADPH diaphorase histochemistry.

In the present study, we investigated the effects of mercury intoxication on the structure of the posteromedial barrel subfield (PMBSF) in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) of adult rats, as revealed by histochemical reactivity to the enzyme NADPH diaphorase (NADPH-d). Enzymatic reactivity in the neuropil inside barrels was drastically reduced in intoxicated animals, suggesting that the synthesis and/or transport of the nitric oxide synthase enzyme can be altered in acute mercury intoxication. However, the cell bodies and dendrites of barrel neurons, also strongly reactive to the enzyme, were spared from the mercury's deleterious effects.