In vitro effects of cadmium and nickel on glutathione, lipid peroxidation and glutathione S-transferase in human kidney.

The in vitro effects of cadmium chloride (CdCl(2)) and nickel chloride (NiCl(2)) on reduced glutathione (GSH) level, lipid peroxidation (LP) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity towards the substrate l-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) in human kidney 10,000 g supernatant were examined. For comparative purposes similar studies were also performed using rat kidney 10,000 g supernatant. No alteration was observed in GSH level of human or rat kidney as a result of either CdCl(2) or NiCl(2) at the concentrations studied (10(-3)-10(-7)m). In human kidney 10,000 g supernatant, CdCl(2) and NiCl(2) were not able to alter the LP at the concentrations studied. Similarly, apart from a slight decrease at a NiCl(2) concentration of 10(-3)m, no effect of either CdCl(2) or NiCl(2) was noted on the LP of rat kidney 10,000 g supernatant. In human kidney 10,000 g supernatant, CdCl(2) at high concentrations (10(-4) and 10(-3)m) inhibited the metabolism of CDNB by GST, whereas in rat kidney 10,000 g supernatant the enzyme was inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner by CdCl(2). The degree of inhibition was similar in kidney 10,000 g supernatants of both human and rat, with 10(-4)m (about 28% inhibition) and 10(-3)m (about 44% inhibition) CdCl(2). NiCl(2), however, did not affect the metabolism of CDNB by GST in either human or rat kidney 10,000 g supernatant.