Effects of Low-Level Organic Mercury Exposure on Oxidative Stress Profile
, Iulia Alexandra Florea 2,*, Ana-Maria Cotae 2,3, Alexandru Emil Băetu 3,4, Sebastian Isac 5,6, Raluca Ungureanu 2,3, Gabriela Droc 3,6, Ioana Marina Grintescu 2,3 and Liliana Mirea 2,3Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In this study, the authors have shown that that Hg exposure may induce an important level of oxidative stress in human. The current study provides an important piece of correlations between exposure to Hg and oxidative stress. Background, is rather comprehensive, methodology is up-to-date, results clearly illustrated and discussion limited to the immediate consequences. Overall, I recommend the publication of this manuscript
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
We sincerely thank you very much for taking the time to evaluate our work.
Attached to this message you will find the revised version.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscrpit is well written and of high significance. I suggest to be accepted after minor revision.
1) Fig 3. has some irrelevant marks and has to be replaced
2) Line 202. Correct the citation
3) Line 257. Correct the [Z]
4) I suggest to rephrase lines 265-266 in the conclusion, about "important oxidative stress" and use a more mild expression like alterations in stress markers profile, since there are important antioxidants mechanisms that are not assessed in the study.
5) I suggest that there must be an explanation about the gaps in mercury concentration levels in blood. It seems levels are gathered around 2, 14, 23 μg/L. Is there any bias or it is because of the number of the patients?
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
We kindly thank you for taking the time to evaluate our article. We have modified the article as per your suggestions as follows:
1)Fig 3. has some irrelevant marks and has to be replaced - We have replaced the Figure 3
2)Line 202. Correct the citation - We have corrected the citation
3)Line 257. Correct the [Z] - We have deleted the [Z]
4) I suggest to rephrase lines 265-266 in the conclusion, about "important oxidative stress" and use a more mild expression like alterations in stress markers profile, since there are important antioxidants mechanisms that are not assessed in the study. - Lines 265,266 were rephrased to “In conclusion, this study demonstrates that Hg low-level exposure may have an influence on the oxidative stress state, brought to light by its impact on a series of oxidative stress biomarkers.”
5) I suggest that there must be an explanation about the gaps in mercury concentration levels in blood. It seems levels are gathered around 2, 14, 23 μg/L. Is there any bias or it is because of the number of the patients? - We have inserted in line 163 the following phrase, regarding your question:
“Regarding the Hg blood concentration distribution, when we take into consideration the presentation of the included patients, there is no further bias. The variable distribution is most likely caused by the small number of patients included. “
We thank you again for the evaluation and attention to details. Attached to this message is the revised version of the article.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
