This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Summer, K.H. Articles by Heilmaier, H.E. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Summer, K.H. Articles by Heilmaier, H.E. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Metauothionein and Cadmium in Human Kidney Cortex: Influence of Smoking

Institut für Toxikologie und Biochemie, Gesellschaft für Strahlen- und Umweltforschung München, D-8042 Neuherberg

G.A. Drasch

Institut für Rechtsmedizin, Universität München, D-8000 München 2, Federal Republic of Germany

H.E. Heilmaier

Institut für Toxikologie und Biochemie, Gesellschaft für Strahlen- und Umweltforschung München, D-8042 Neuherberg

1 Post-mortem specimens of human kidney cortex of 47 individuals classified according to their imoking habits were analysed for tissue cadmium and cadmium bound to metallothionein.

2 The cadmium content in the kidney cortex of all individuals was 5-99 µg/g wet wt. In smokers consuming more than 20 cigarettes/day the mean content of renal cortex cadmium was twice that of ion-smokers and amounted to 33.3 ± 12.5 µg/g wet wt.

3 The amount of cadmium bound to metallothionein of all individuals was 0.3-66 µg/g wet wt. iirectly correlating with the cadmium content of the kidney cortex (r = 0.932).

4 More than 50% of renal cortex cadmium was associated with the metallothionein fractions.

Due to constant values of zinc and copper in metallothionein the relative amount of zinc and copper to cadmium in metallothionein decreased with increasing tissue cadmium.

5 Together with the elevated binding of cadmium to renal cortex metallothionein, cadmium ncreasingly was bound to non-metallothionein ligands.

6 These results suggest that, in the renal cortex of smokers with elevated cadmium, a major portion of cadmium is bound to metallothionein. However, it is unclear yet whether (a) the binding of cadmium to metallothionein with subsequent liberation of the metal during degradation of the protein, (b) the impairment of metallothionein functions by the binding of cadmium or (c) the increased binding to non-metallothionein ligands contribute to the toxicity of cadmium in highly exposed individuals.

Human & Experimental Toxicology, Vol. 5, No. 1, 27-33 (1986)
DOI: 10.1177/096032718600500106


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?