Objective To study organ weight coefficient and testicle mitochondrial(mt)D-Loop point mutation in mice after exposure to cadmium.
Methods Fourty male mice were divided into 4 groups with 10 animals each group (average body weight:19.5& #177;2.5 g; age:7 week). Three groups treated with intraperitoneal cadmium chloride of 1.0, 5.0, 10.0 μmol/kg, once per 2 days, 10 times in total, and normal saline for control group. Necrospy were conducted 20 days after exposure of cadmium chloride, weight coefficients of testis, kidneys, liver were determined. The mt D-Loop gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)from the genomic DNA of mice testicle tissue, and their mutant sites by DNA sequencing was analyzed.
Results The testis weight coefficient of 10.0 μmol/kg cadmium chloride group was lower than that of the control group (P < 0.001), but the liver weight coefficient of 10.0 μmol/kg cadmium chloride group was higher than that of the control group (P < 0.05). The kidney weight coefficient of 1.0 μmol/kg cadmium chloride group was higher than that of the control group (P < 0.001). No mt D-Loop mutation was found in the mice testicle spermatogenic cell.
Conclusion High dose cadmium chloride affected the mice testicle and liver weight coefficient, low dose cadmium chloride affected that of kidney, but 21 day exposure did not induced mt D-Loop mutation.
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