Cadmium induces apoptosis in the pituitary gland of Podarcis sicula.
The cytotoxic effects of cadmium (Cd) on the pituitary gland were studied in the lizard Podarcis sicula. Adult lizards were treated intraperitoneally with a single injection of CdCl(2) at the dose of 2 mg/kg. A morphological study was performed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) technique and by immunocytochemical demonstration of caspase-3 for detecting apoptotic cells in situ after 2, 7, and 16 days of treatment. The pituitary cells of Cd-treated P. sicula undergo apoptosis: after 2 days the apoptotic cells appeared to increase significantly compared with those of the control specimens; after 7 days there was no considerable increment; however, after 16 days the occurrence of apoptotic cells had increased markedly, above all in the rostral pars distalis (RPD) in which various cells showed a strongly immunostained nucleus by TUNEL. Cd appears particularly toxic for pituitary cells in the lizard P. sicula; a single high intraperitoneal dose of CdCl(2) induces apoptosis, in particular in the RPD, and this effect appears irreversible.
Ferrandino
Ida
I
Department of Biological Sciences, Section of Evolutionary and Comparative Biology, University Federico II of Naples, Naples, Italy. ida.ferrandino@unina.it
Favorito
Rossana
R
Annunziata
Martina
M
Grimaldi
Maria Consiglio
MC
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D002104:Cadmium / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects*; D014714:Vertebrates
D002104:Cadmium