ABSTRACT
Mercury is a highly toxic element to marine organisms, especially those situated at the top level of the aquatic trophic web, which developed apparently different detoxification mechanisms as they are known to accumulate it without evidence of toxicity symptoms. However, this fact is of great importance for human health since seafood can contain high levels of mercury, especially methylmercury, which mainly affects the central nervous system and in severe cases, specific areas of the brain causing irreversible damage. The consumption of mercury during pregnancy is especially dangerous since it can cross the placenta barrier and can affect the foetus’s health. In this chapter, we discuss recent advances in the research of mercury occurrence in seafood and biofluids, as well as speciation, bioaccessibility, and metabolomic studies in connection to mercury mode of action (MOA). In addition, metallomic studies allows deep insight into the interactions of this element with selenium biomolecules, formation of metallothionein complexes, and elucidation of mercury binding sites with proteins.
