Evaluation of the Skin Uptake of Mercuric Chloride in Man

Skin on the forearms of male human volunteers was exposed to aqueous HgCl2 solutions. It was assumed that loss of mercury from the test solution was equivalent to percutaneous absorption. Two parameters important for influencing uptake considered as the rate of absorption were investigated: the concentration of HgClz solutions (0.01, 0.1 and 0.2 M) and the time of exposure (5, 10, 15, 30 and 60min). The absorption rate from 0.1 M HgC12 solution decreased from 9.3 pg cm- 2 min-' during a 5 min exposure to 2.5 pg cK2 min-' during a 1 h exposure. A ten- fold decrease of HgCl2 concentration resulted in an approximately ten- fold decrease of the absorption rate, from 4.6 to 0.4 pg cm- 2 min-' during a 30 min exposure. The results indicate that the absorption rate is a directly related function of concentration and an indirectly related function of time of exposure.