The introduction of minute amounts of mercury into nerve cells causes damage to the ADP ribosilation cycle. ADP is essential to the production of the tubulin protein. Their work has been further expanded to investigate similar neurological disorders and look specifically for the role of heavy metals in their etiology. One theory is that all of these diseases are essentially the same disease and genetic predisposition makes the clinical symptoms vary from patient to patient. They also stated that a third genetic factor is involved.
Mercury attaches to sulfur.
In the body it is found not in free form but attached to tissue ligands or protein containing sulfur. This is how it exerts its toxic effect. The brain is high in these types of sulfur bonds and is, apparently, a slowly releasing long term reservoir for mercury. Elemental mercury vapor rapidly absorbs across the blood brain barrier. Mercury comes off the fillings in the uncharged fat soluble state of Hg0.