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Abstract

Background: Cadmium is a serious environmental and occupational contaminant that may represent a serious health hazard to humans and other animals. Since cadmium cannot be degraded, the risk of environmental exposure is constantly increasing because of accumulation via the food chain. Exposure to cadmium at the cellular level can produce tissue injury and damage various organs, but the underlying mechanism is enigmatic. Methods:In order to investigate its toxicity on lipid profile and malondialdehyde concentration, thirty-two rats were exposed to 100, 200 and 300 ppm cadmium in their drinking water for six weeks while the control group received distilled water for the same period.Results: At all the concentrations, cadmium produced a significant (p<0.05) dosedependent hypocholesterolemia, hypotriglyceridemia and hypophospholipidemia in the plasma and erythrocyte respectively. Exposure to cadmium resulted in increased hepatic triacylglycerol concentration, whereas brain triacylglycerol concentrations were reduced. While cadmium induced brain phospholipidosis, a reduction in liver phospholipid concentration was observed. There was a significant (p<0.05) dose-dependent increase in the plasma, erythrocyte, brain and liver malondialdehyde concentrations corresponding to 56, 89, and 69 % at high dose of 300 ppm respectively compared to control. While positive associations were observed between plasma, liver, brain, erythrocyte malondialdehyde and organ triacylglycerol and phospholipid, negative associations were observed with liver phospholipid. Conclusion:The results showed that exposure to cadmium for 6 weeks significantly causes dose-dependently up-/-down lipid profile and increased malondialdehyde concentration in rats. Keywords:Cadmium conditions. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to study the lipid profile and MDA concentrations in the plasma, erythrocyte, brain and liver of rats induced with different doses of Cd in drinking water. Materials and Methods Animals and treatmentThirty-two adult male albino Wistar rats (bred in the Animal House of the Department of Biochemistry; Faculty of Sciences; Lagos State University; Ojo; Lagos; Nigeria) with body weight between 180 and 200g were used for the experiment. They were housed in animal stainless cages with a 12h light/dark cycle and free access to food and water for 14days prior to the experiment. The animals were randomly and equally distributed into four groups (n=8). Animals in group one were given distilled water and served as controls while rats in three other groups were given 100; 200 and 300 ppm Cd in the form of Cd-chloride in drinking water respectively for short-term exposure of six weeks. All groups were fed ad libitum with grower mash with minimal Cd level (product of Animal care; Lagos; Nigeria). Although the levels surpassed Cd levels to which humans are exposed to in water [16]; but the concentrations embodied levels of Cd that have elicited toxic effect in rats [17,18].At the end of Cd exposure; the rats were fasted overnight and ...