Effect of exposure of pregnant rats to cadmium on prenatal and postnatal development of the young.
Cadmium chloride in doses of 2, 12 and 40 mg Cd/kg was administered per os to pregnant rats from the 7th to 16th day of pregnancy. In another experiment female rats were exposed to cadmium oxide at a concentration of 0.02 mg Cd/m3 or 0.16 mg Cd/m3 for 5 hours a day and 5 days weekly for a period of 5 months or 1 mg Cd/m3 for 4 months. The exposure was then continued during mating and from the 1st to 20th day of pregnancy. A decrease in fertility was only observed in females exposed by inhalation to cadmium oxide at a concentration of 1 mg Cd/m3, at which concentration cadmium exhibits a considerable toxic effect on the whole organism. The young of females orally treated with CdCl2 in a dose of 40 mg Cd/kg displayed congenital defects in the form of sirenomelia or amelia, as well as raised cadmium levels in tissues. A retardation of intrauterine development manifested by lower body weight and slowed down osteogenesis was observed in the other groups. A cadmium concentration increase was not found in the tissues of the young in these groups. Inhalation exposure to 0.16 mg Cd/m3 of females prior to and during pregnancy induced in their young a decrease in viability, lower body weight gain, prolongation of latency in the negative-geotaxis test, lower locomotor activity and deteriorated development of the conditioned-reflex response. The offspring of females exposed to 0.02 mg Cd/m3 displayed lowered locomotor activity and worsened consolidation of the conditioned-reflex response.
D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D002104:Cadmium / Q000633:toxicity*; D019256:Cadmium Chloride; D019187:Cadmium Compounds; D005260:Female; D005327:Fetal Resorption; D005333:Fetus / Q000187:drug effects*; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D010087:Oxides; D010920:Placenta / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D019187:Cadmium Compounds; D010087:Oxides; D002104:Cadmium; C029663:cadmium oxide; D019256:Cadmium Chloride