Abstract: Objective To investigate the changes of tissue and hematological oxidation in acute methyl mercury-contaminated rat. Method The total of rats were randomly divided into three groups, zinc+methyl mercury groups, methyl mercury exposure group and control group. zinc+methyl mercury groups were treated with different doses of ZnSO4 (2.86, 5.72, 8.58, 11.44 mg/kg) by intraperitoneal injection every day. On the 6th day, the rats in all groups except control group were exposed to methylmecury by oral administration. All the rats were sacrificed on the 7 th day, the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GHS-Px) in the liver, brain, kidney and blood were determined. Results With the zinc+methyl mercury groups, compare to the treatment of methylmecury, the activities of SOD significantly increased (P<0.05) and GSH-Px significantly decreased (P<0.05) in the tissues and blood, and shown a significant positive correlation. Conclusion The Zinc has significant inhibitive effect on methylmercury-induced oxidative damage in rats.

Key words: Zinc, Methylmercury, Glutathione peroxidase, Lipid peroxide, Superoxide dismutase, Metallthionein