Through the Eye: Retinal Changes of Prenatal Mercury Exposure in Grassy Narrows First Nation, Canada
Véronique Small, Aline Philibert, Annie Chatillon, Judy Da Silva, Myriam Fillion, Donna Mergler, Benoit Tousignant

TL;DR
This study shows that prenatal mercury exposure in an Indigenous community is linked to long-term retinal thinning, detectable with OCT scans.
Contribution
The study provides new evidence of enduring retinal effects from prenatal mercury exposure using OCT in an Indigenous population.
Findings
Higher cord blood mercury levels were significantly associated with reduced thickness of GC-IPL retinal layers.
Individuals with cord blood Hg ≥ 5.8 µg/L were more likely to have bilateral abnormal retinal thinning.
OCT technology was shown to be effective in detecting mercury-related retinal changes.
Abstract
Since the 1960s, Grassy Narrows First Nation, Canada, has been exposed to methylmercury (MeHg) from fish consumption following Hg discharge from a chloralkali plant. Prenatal exposure to MeHg is known to affect the neurodevelopment of fetuses and the retina is sensitive to neurodevelopmental damage. The multidisciplinary, cross-sectional Niibin study, developed with Grassy Narrows First Nations, included visual examinations with retinal evaluation using optical coherence tomography (OCT). The present analyses focused on the 59 participants (116 eyes) with umbilical cord Hg measurements, sampled between 1971 and 1992. Associations between cord blood Hg and retinal thickness layers surrounding the optic nerve head (RNFL) and inner macula (GC-IPL) were examined using mixed-effect models. Higher cord blood Hg was significantly associated with reduced thickness of GC-IPL layers across all…
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Taxonomy
TopicsMercury impact and mitigation studies · Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact · Arsenic contamination and mitigation
