Different response of liver parenchymal cells from starved and fed rats to cadmium.

The susceptibility of hepatocytes to the deleterious effects of cadmium (10-100 microM Cd), as evidenced by SH-group content and cell membrane permeability for Trypan Blue (TB), was shown to be strongly dependent on the dietary condition of the donor animal. Although Cd stimulated lipid peroxidation (LPO) equally well in "starved" as in "fed cells", SH-group content and TB-exclusion decreased markedly only in "starved" cells exposed to Cd. Experiments with methionine + serine and/or the antioxidant (+)-cyanidanol-3 suggested that the Cd-dependent LPO proceeded independent of the decrease in SH-group content or TB-exclusion.