The effects of Thimerosal on the central nervous system of the pond snail lymnaea stagnalis

It is well known that certain forms of organic mercury (such as methylmercury) are neurotoxic. What has been of significant interest in recent years relates to the levels of mercury which become bioavailable after injecting vaccines which contain the ethylmercury-based preservative Thimerosal and whether those levels are significant enough to disrupt normal neuronal communication. This study does not attempt to extrapolate the observed effects of Thimerosal on neurons of the pond snail to the effects of Thimerosal on the normal neuronal development of the infant human. What we show is that there is a clear disruption of the baseline neuronal communication pattern when the extracted central nervous system is exposed to Thimerosal at 100 ¿M. We note that this concentration far exceeds that which is bioavailable in normal Thimerosal-preserved vaccines.