Handling of cysteine S-conjugates of methylmercury in MDCK cells expressing human OAT1

The present data demonstrate clearly that CH3Hg-Cys is indeed a transportable substrate of OAT1. Moreover, the collective findings from the MDCK cells and NRK-52E cells infer that CH3Hg-Cys is a likely transportable mercuric species in proximal tubular epithelial cells that is taken up in vivo by both OAT1 and amino acid transporters.