Abstract
Testicular injury is known to be provoked by a single dose of cadmium administered to rats or mice. We have studied the effects of environmental temperatures on cadmium-induced testicular injury. Macroscopic experiments were performed twice. In the first experiment, 18, 4-week-old male rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain were acclimatized to environmental temperatures of 8°, 22°or 32°C for 10 weeks; then they were given a single subcutaneous dose of cadmium chloride at levels of 0, 3, 6 or 12mg/kg. In the second experiment, 37, 4-week-old male rats were acclimatized to 8°, 22°or 38°C for 4 weeks, after which they were given a single injection of 0, 3, 6, 12 or 24mg/kg cadmium chloride. The degree of cadmium-induced testicular and epididymal hemorrhage was related to the environmental temperature: the higher the environmental temperature, the more severe the cadmium-induced testicular injury.
