Evaluation of the toxic potency of selected cadmium compounds on A549 and CHO-9 cells.

Cytotoxicity of cadmium sulphide, oxide and chloride was tested using A549 and CHO-9 cells. Metabolic activity of cells (MTT test) and cell membrane permeability (NRU test) were used as cytotoxicity endpoints. The results revealed unexpectedly low toxicity of cadmium sulphide as compared to chloride and oxide. This preliminary report does not provide any explanation for this effect, but the result may nevertheless be interesting for future studies of toxicity mechanisms of cadmium compounds. First cadmium compounds caused damage or change in the permeability of cell membranes, then inhibition of metabolic activity of mitochondria. It cannot be ruled out that the cell lysosomes are at first exposed to the effect of cadmium.