Comparison of tissue distribution of cadmium in mice intravenously injected with metallothionein and a polymer of metallothionein.
Polymers of cadmium metallothionein I and II were prepared and used for distribution studies. Mice were intravenously injected with comparable doses of cadmium as chloride, metallothionein and metallothionein-polymer and were killed at 3 h and 24 h after injection. A considerably higher concentration of cadmium was found in the plasma and spleen of animals exposed to metallothionein-polymer than other groups, while the cadmium concentration in the kidney was less than, but in the liver was greater than those injected with cadmium-metallothionein. Gel filtration of liver and kidney cytosols showed that metallothionein is the most stable form of cadmium in the tissues. The injected polymer was degraded into the monomer within 24 h in tissues. The high concentration of polymer in plasma indicates a slow clearance of cadmium in this form. The increased antigenicity of metallothionein-polymer may be related to its slow clearance from blood and increased deposition in spleen.
D000818:Animals; D002104:Cadmium / Q000378:metabolism*; D019256:Cadmium Chloride; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008667:Metalloproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008668:Metallothionein / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D011108:Polymers / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D014018:Tissue Distribution
D008667:Metalloproteins; D011108:Polymers; C004203:cadmium-binding protein; D002104:Cadmium; D008668:Metallothionein; D019256:Cadmium Chloride