Cadmium induced renal toxicity in male rats, Rattus rattus

Cadmium (Cd) is reported to cause harmful effects on organs such as kidneys, lungs, bones, liver and testes. But, the kidneys are the major target organs of Cd action. At sub-chronic exposure of CdCl2 dose (LD50 88mg kg-1), the metal accumulates in the renal cortex and results in the malfunctioning of the kidneys. We report here the effect of Cd intake in Rattus rattus of 0.6mg /kg b.wt/day of CdCl2 on rat at subchronic level. Our findings demonstrate that a regular oral intake of CdCl2 solution (in drinking water) for 30 days causes severe damage to rat kidneys. At this exposure of CdCl2, cortex region is most affected whereas glomeruli as well as proximal tubules showed wall thickening. Cytosolic damaged bodies were also observed in the renal tubular epithelium. Since in Cd-treated rats proximal tubules in renal cortex were more heavily stained that suggesting increased protein contents in the cells. No such changes were observed in control group, which were fed with normal tap water. It is concluded that even at the high dose selected here, the extent of damage to kidneys of rat is limited.