The health effects of mercury vapor exposure on the brain in volcanic areas have not been previously addressed in the literature. However, 10% of the worldwide population inhabits in the vicinity of an active volcano, which are natural sources of elemental mercury emission. To evaluate the presence of mercury compounds in the brain after chronic exposure to volcanogenic mercury vapor, a histochemical study, using autometallographic silver, was carried out to compare the brain of mice chronically exposed to an active volcanic environment (Furnas village, Azores, Portugal) with those not exposed (Rabo de Peixe village, Azores, Portugal). Results demonstrated several mercury deposits in blood vessels, white matter and some cells of the hippocampus in the brain of chronically exposed mice. Our results highlight that chronic exposure to an active volcanic environment results in brain mercury accumulation, raising an alert regarding potential human health risks. These findings support the hypothesis that mercury exposure can be a risk factor in causing neurodegenerative diseases in the inhabitants of volcanically active areas.

先前尚未在文献中讨论过汞蒸气对火山地区大脑的健康影响。但是，全世界人口的10％居住在活火山附近，活火山是元素汞排放的自然来源。为了评估长期暴露于火山爆发的汞蒸气后大脑中汞化合物的存在，使用自金相银进行了组织化学研究，以比较长期暴露于活跃火山环境中的小鼠的大脑（葡萄牙亚速尔群岛富纳斯村）那些没有暴露的人（葡萄牙亚速尔群岛的Rabo de Peixe村）。结果表明，在长期暴露的小鼠的大脑中，血管，白质和海马的某些细胞中沉积了一些汞。我们的结果表明，长期暴露于活跃的火山环境中会导致脑部汞的积累，从而提高了对潜在人类健康风险的警觉性。这些发现支持以下假设：汞暴露可能是导致火山活动区居民神经退行性疾病的危险因素。