Short-Term Toxicity (1 and 10 Days) of Cadmium Chloride in Male and Female Rats: Gavage and Drinking Water

Abstract

Male and female Sprague-Dawley-derived rats received CdCl2 by gavage at doses of 25, 51, 107, and 225 mg CdCl2 per kg body weight per day for 1 or 10 consecutive days or in drinking solutions at concentrations of 13–323 mg CdCl2 per liter for 10 consecutive days. There were appropriate controls. In the 1 day study in males only, an apparent treatment-related but not statistically significant decrease in body weight was reported; spleen weights and ratios were significantly lower and lung weights and ratios were significantly higher (in the highest dose only). Dose-dependent mortality was observed in the 10 day gavage study. Body weight gain was depressed in a dose-dependent manner in both males and females. Weights and/or ratios of brain, liver, spleen, lungs, thymus, kidneys, and testes of treated males were depressed in a dose-dependent manner. In females, weights and/or ratios of liver, spleen, thymus, and kidneys were depressed in a dose-dependent manner. Focal necrotic changes in renal tubular epithelium and tubular degeneration were reported in males and females. Testicular and hepatic histopathologic changes (testicular atrophy and necrosis and hepatic necrosis) were also reported in males. In the drinking water study, males demonstrated dose-dependent decreases in body weight gain and weight and/or ratios of liver, spleen, thymus, and kidneys. There were no significant compound-related effects in females, although liver weights and ratios were lower. There were no compound-related histopathologic effects. © 1989, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.