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Cadmium distribution and selected tissue histology in rats following administration of cadmium chloride and/or gamma radiation

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:5123153

Sprague-Dawley rats were injected IP with CdCl/sub 2/ or distilled water, and/or given a total-body irradiation. Three lethality studies, acute Cd, chronic Cd, and acute radiation, were performed to determine the sublethal doses for the co-insult study. Lethal doses (LD/sub 50/) were obtained by probit analysis. Cd concentrations were determined by the atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The analysis of variance was used to test the data. LD/sub 50(30)/ values obtained for respective male and female rats were: 5.99 and 7.13 mg/kg of body wt for acute Cd; 4.25 and 5.99 mg/kg of body wt for chronic Cd; and 733 and 729 R for acute radiation. On days 1, 7 and 21 post-irradiation, rats given Cd singly or in combination with radiation showed a high accumulation and retention of metal in the liver and kidney. Then followed in order of decreasing Cd concentrations were: spleen, intestine, stomach, heart, testis, lung, blood cells, brain, and muscle. High Cd concentrations in the liver and kidney persisted over a 21-day observation period; the concentrations in the other tissues decreased, some to control values. Radiation was not an antagonist on Cd concentrations or retentions in these tissues except the heart, in which radiation contributed to the clearance of Cd. Radiation did not act as a synergistic agent on Cd concentrations or retentions in any of the tissues analyzed. Radiation singly had no morphological or physiological effects on the parameters of this study. Based on the high Cd concentrations in these tissues, histological examinations of the liver and kidney sections were made. In the high co-insult groups slight abnormalities, such as pyknotic nuclei in the liver and cellular disorganization and larger lumens in the kidney were observed.

Research Organization:
Texas Woman's Univ., Denton (USA)
OSTI ID:
5123153
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English