Acute cadmium intoxication in inbred mice: a study on strain differences.

Male C3H, BALB/c and DBA/2 mice were injected subcutaneously with a single dose of 30 mumol CdCl2/kg. Most of the C3H mice died within 15 h, while all of DBA/2 survived for at least 48 h. At 6 h after Cd-injection, histology revealed severe hemorrhage, fatty change, zonal hepatocyte necrosis and congestion of C3H livers, while these findings were rare in the other strains even at 48 h post-injection. The rate of metallothionein (MT) induction at 6 h was significantly lower in C3H mice than in the other two strains.