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Thimerosal and autism

Molecular Psychiatry volume 9, page 644 (2004)Cite this article

SIR – The paper by Richard Deth and coworkers titled ‘Activation of methionine synthase by insulin-like growth factor-1 and dopamine: a target for neurodevelopmental toxins and thimerosal’ states, ‘The discovery of the PI3-kinase/MAP-kinase/MS pathway and its potent inhibition by developmental neurotoxins, including vaccine components thimerosal and aluminum, provides a potential molecular explanation for how increased use of vaccines could promote an increase in the incidence of autism.’ The data presented by the authors do not support this statement.

(1) The authors, by examining cells exposed to various concentrations of ethylmercury in vitro, failed to consider issues of bioavailability in vivo. Previous studies showed that mercury is toxic to the central nervous system (CNS). However, environmental mercury (methylmercury) is far more likely to enter the CNS than mercury found in vaccines (ethylmercury). Methylmercury enters the CNS by an active transport mechanism whereas ethylmercury does not.1 Also, because its half-life is much longer, methylmercury is more likely to accumulate than ethylmercury, causing higher levels of mercury in the blood.2 Exposing cells in vitro to ethylmercury assumes absolute availability in vivo, eliminates the most important difference between those two forms of mercury, and ignores the fact that ethylmercury is unlikely to enter the CNS at concentrations likely to be harmful. Similarly, ethanol and methanol have different capacities to enter the CNS; a difference clearly reflected in their clinical effects.

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References

  1. Kerper LE et al. Am J Physiol 1992; 262: R761–R765.

  2. Magos L . J Appl Toxicol 2001; 21: 11–55.

  3. Verstraeten T et al. Pediatrics 2003; 112: 1039–1048.

  4. Hviid A et al. JAMA 3002; 290: 1763–1766.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Infectious Diseases, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    P Offit

  2. Henle Professor of Immunologic and Infectious Diseases, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    P Offit

  3. The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    P Offit

  4. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    J Golden

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  1. P Offit
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  2. J Golden
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Offit, P., Golden, J. Thimerosal and autism. Mol Psychiatry 9, 644 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001522

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