The effects of acute cadmium administration in the liver and kidney of the rat. Light and electron microscopic studies.

A single injection of cadmium acetate givenintravenously to rats produced, at 16 hours, liver damage but no observable kidney changes. Ultrastructure of the liver revealed more profound changes in parenchymal cells than in Kupffer cells. The most prominent changes were single parenchymal cell necrosis, deterioration of rough endoplasmic reticulum, proliferation of smooth endoplasmic reticulum, autophagocytosis, and mitochondrial degenerative changes. Lesions of Kupffer cells were not prominent, although occasional areas of cytoplasmic degradation and increased vacuolation were observed. Dewquamation of these cells appears also to be a frequent finding in cadmium intoxication. Accumulation of platelets, cellular debris, inflammatory cells, and fibrin in the sinusoids may be the cause of the occasionally observed focal necrosis. Although the present experiment does not simulate any known clinical situation, these composite studies provide a morphologic basis for hepatic dysfunction following acute cadmium administration as well as an ultrastructural basis for thebetter understanding of the synergistic actionof cadmium with other substances such as endotoxins.