Abstract

Industrial wastes include heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd). Studies on Cd revealed that it is almost exlusively toxic in its effects on metabolism. Selenium (Se) a presequisite for proper functioning of the organism. Several data indicate that Se may be a potential suppressor of noxious Cd effects.We investigated the effects of dietary Cd intoxication on the incorparation of precursors of DNA, RNA and protein synthesis in mouse hepatocytes and compared them with the results of Cd-Se interaction.The results demonstrate that compared to controls 3H-thymidine uptake in the hepatocyte was decreased by 17% in the Cd-diet mice and increased by 13% and 2% in the Sediet and the Cd-Se-diet mice respectively. The 3H-uridine uptake was enhanced by 84% in the Cd-diet group (pM0.05) and by 78% (p<0.05) in the Cd-Se-diet group, but it was decreased by 10% in the Se-group. The 3H-alanine uptake by proteins was increased by 82% (p<0.05) in the Cd-group and was the highest in the Se-group (126%) (p<0.05). In the Cd-Se-diet group the uptake was decreased by 24%. We concluded that in mouse hepatocytes Cd intoxication distorted the incorporation of precursors of nucleic acids and protein synthesis. However, Cd-Se intoxication showed that selenium suppressed the toxic effects of cadmium.

Keywords: Cadmium, Selenium, Liver, Nucleic Acids, Proteins