Effect of oral cadmium administration to female rats during pregnancy on zinc, copper, and iron content in placenta, foetal liver, kidney, intestine, and brain.

Cadmium chloride was administered in drinking water at a concentration of 50 ppm cadmium to female rats for 20 days of gestation. The foetuses were then removed from the uteri of the dams. Gestational exposure to oral cadmium resulted in decreased zinc, copper, iron, metallothionein, and thionein-bound zinc content in foetal liver as well as in reduced copper content in placenta and foetal intestine, brain and kidney. Subcellular fractionation of the foetal liver revealed decreased nuclear and cytoplasmic zinc content as well as decreased microsomal iron content. Pregnant rats exposed to oral cadmium revealed decreased serum zinc and iron concentration as well as reduced ceruloplasmin activity. The decreased zinc, copper, and iron content in foetal organs is suggested to be causally connected with the diminished availability of these metals in the maternal circulation.