EFFECTS OF CADMIUM INJECTION ON INTRACELLULAR DISTRIBUTION OF ESSENTIAL METALS IN RAT LIVER

Abstract

Accumulation of cadmium and changes in contents of some essential metals in the livers were studied for rats receiving a single intraperitoneal injection of cadmium at 4, 14, 24 and 96 hr after the injection. Changes in intracellular distributions of these metals in the liver were also studied.
Cadmium content in the liver increased with time and was about 34.2% of the injected amount at 96 hr after the injection.
Calcium content in the liver showed a temporal increase by cadmium injectionand got its maximum at 14 hr after the injection. Increase of zinc and copper con-tents in the liver occured after cadmium injection. Zinc content was about 2.3 times arger than that of control level at 96 hr after cadmium injection. The increase of these metals mainly occured in the supernatant fraction. Manganese content in the liver decreased by cadmium injection, which was most remarkabe in the mitochondrial fraction.
Relation between the accumulation of cadmium and the increase of zinc and copper contents in the supernatant fraction was discussed in relation to metallothionein or cadmium-binding protein.