Superoxide radical and nephrotoxic effect of cadmium exposure

Pollution and industrial practices result in concentrations of metals and o ther environmental agents that are related to environmental toxicity. Conce ntrations of metals an widely related to biochemicals values which are used in disease diagnosis due to environmental toxicity. This work was carl-led out in order to verify the nephrotoxic effect of cadmium and to clarify th e contribution of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in this process. Cadmium ch loride was tested for nephrotoxic damage in rats by a single intraperitonea l (i.p.) injection Cd2+ (2 mg/kg) and oral intake (Cd2+-100mg/l-from CdCl2) . The cadmium-induced biochemical alterations included significant increase d levels of serum creatinine concentrations, in rats with i.p. injection. T otal urinary protein concentrations were only increased in rats with cadmiu m intake. Lipoperoxide was also increased after 3 and 7 days of the Cd2+ tr eatment. No changes were observed in glutathione pel oxidase activities. Ca dmium-induced damage might be due to superoxide radicals (O-2(-)) since Cu- Zn superoxide dismutase activities were decreased by Cd2+ treatment. This s tudy allows tentative conclusions to be drawn regarding which reactive oxyg en metabolites play a role in cadmium nephrotoxicity. We concluded that the superoxide radical may be produced as a mediator of nephrotoxic action of cadmium.