I think the Aposhian article you are referring to discusses ALA among other
substances, but not NAC. See abstract below. Cutler has roundly criticized this study for its design, methodology, conclusions, etc. Here are a few things he has written about this study:
"The conclusions in the abstract do not legitimately flow from the
content of the paper due to improper study design.
150-300 mg/kg of DMPS and DMSA were used on the rats in a single dose.
In fact this was so much it killed a few of them. With this horrific
dose a modest reduction in mercury was noted in the kidneys.
10 mg/kg of ALA was used on the rats once, and unsurprisingly it did
not reduce brain mercury levels significantly. Nobody would ever have
expected them to. If 10 mg/kg of DMSA and DMPS had been used they
would also not have led to a noticeable reduction in kidney mercury
levels which would have "proved" that DMPS and DMSA are not mercury
chelators just like the paper "proves" that ALA isn't.
In addition, the DMPS and DMSA were injected (ensuring 100%
absorption) and the ALA was ingested leading to lower absorption. So
30-100 times as much DMPS and DMSA got into the bloodstreams of the
animals as ALA did, and these chelators are all of roughly equal
chelating power per unit weight.
I didn't do the numbers for the other materials, but a cursory reading
suggests similar problems regarding dosage as with ALA. Also the
vitamin C was not adminsitered intravenously, as is uniformly done in
treating humans.
The authors actually do offer some discussion of the use of ALA to
treat autistic children but it is off point and quite misinformed.
They did prove that a protocol nobody actually uses on autistic
children would be ineffective if it were used. This is quite
different than studying the protocols that people have found
clinically effective.
This paper highlights the difficulties of doing research as well as
the need to read and analyze papers (and to have the basic knowledge
to be able to do that) in order to use them to make good decisions."
J Toxicol Clin Toxicol. 2003;41(4):339-47.
Vitamin C, glutathione, or lipoic acid did not decrease brain or kidney mercury in rats exposed to mercury vapor.
Aposhian HV, Morgan DL, Queen HL, Maiorino RM, Aposhian MM.
Source
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0106, USA.
aposhian@u.arizona.edu
Abstract
Some medical practitioners prescribe GSH and vitamin C alone or in combination with DMPS or DMSA for patients with mercury exposure that is primarily due to the mercury vapor emitted by dental amalgams.
HYPOTHESIS:
This study tested the hypothesis that GSH, vitamin C, or lipoic acid alone or in combination with DMPS or DMSA would decrease brain mercury.
METHODS:
Young rats were exposed to elemental mercury by individual nose cone, at the rate of 4.0 mg mercury per m3 air for 2 h per day for 7 consecutive days. After a 7-day equilibrium period, DMPS, DMSA, GSH, vitamin C, lipoic acid alone, or in combination was administered for 7 days and the brain and kidneys of the animals removed and analyzed for mercury by cold vapor atomic absorption.
RESULTS:
None of these regimens reduced the mercury content of the brain. Although DMPS or DMSA was effective in reducing kidney mercury concentrations, GSH, vitamin C, lipoic acid alone, or in combination were not.
CONCLUSION:
One must conclude that the palliative effect, if any, of GSH, vitamin C, or lipoic acid for treatment of mercury toxicity due to mercury vapor exposure does not involve mercury mobilization from the brain and kidney.