Study design: This study compared several neonatal parameters of babies born by mothers with critical level of mercury in their blood who were either treated (group 1) with (RS)-2,3-Bis(sulfanyl)propane-1-sulfonic acid, sodium salt (DMPS) or stayed untreated (group 2) during pregnancy. Groups 1 and 2 were also compared to newborns (group 3) from mothers with normal mercury blood levels.

Results: Mercury levels in the cord blood were the highest in group 2, difference between group 1 and 3 was not significant. Group 1 showed higher Apgar score than group 2 after delivery and asphyxia was two times less in group 1, obtaining nearly the frequency in group 3. CNS hypoxic-ischemia lesion was 2.7 times as often observed in group 2 as in group 1.

Conclusions: Administration of (RS)-2,3-Bis(sulfanyl)propane-1-sulfonic acid, sodium salt to mercury burdened pregnant women can prevent their newborns from impaired neonatal incidents compared to children from untreated mothers.