Inhibitory effects on cadmium-induced testicular damage by pretreatment with smaller cadmium dose.

In recent years it has repeatedly demonstrated by a number of investigators in various animal species that a single administration of cadmium salt produces a selective damage to the testis (in mice, Meek 1959, Chiquoine 1964; in rats, Pati.zek and Zâhot 1956, Allanson and Deanesly 1962, Kar and Das 1962, Gunn, Gould and Anderson 1961, 1963a,b, Mason, Brown, Young and Nesbit 1964 ; in rabbits, Cameron and Foster 1963). It has also been known that the testis injury caused by cadmium can be prevented by zinc salts simultaneously administered (P aiizek 1956, 1957; Gunn, Gould and Anderson 1961, 1963a). In the course of studying morphological alterations of the testis and accessory sex organs following cadmium administration in young mice, it was found that the damage-inducing effect of cadmium on the testis was inhibited when the mice had been treated with a smaller dose of cadimum prior to the administration of the effective dose of cadmium. So far as we know, such an inhibitory effect on cadmium injury to the testis by pretreatment with a smaller dose of the same substance has not been reported.