V79 Chinese-hamster cells rendered resistant to high cadmium concentration also become resistant to oxidative stress.

Chinese hamster cells (V79) resistant to high concentrations of Cd2+ in the medium were obtained by using the procedure of Beach & Palmiter [(1981) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 78, 2110-2114], which in mouse led to amplification of metallothionein (MT) genes and to an enrichment in cellular MT. The Cd-resistant V79 clones isolated were significantly more resistant than parental cells to oxidative stress by extracellular H2O2 or a mixture of H2O2 and superoxide anion (O2-) generated by xanthine oxidase plus acetaldehyde. On a per-cell basis, there was no difference between the two cells in their total H2O2-decomposing or O2-(-)dismutating activity. The most likely explanation is that an enrichment in MT content in the Cd-resistant cells was responsible for this effect, because of the antioxidant properties already described for this protein.