Analysis for lead and cadmium in biological liquids (blood and urine) is difficult. Results of such analyses from five laboratories are compared for samples with known additions of lead and cadmium. The data, evaluated in terms of inter- and intralaboratory reproducibility and accuracy, suggest that laboratories should voluntarily participate in quality control programs. Users of routine labora...

High cadmium exposure is known to cause bone damage, but the association between low-level cadmium exposure and osteoporosis remains to be clarified. Using a population-based women's health survey in southern Sweden [Women's Health in the Lund Area (WHILA) ] with no known historical cadmium contamination, we investigated cadmium-related effects on bone in 820 women (53-64 years of age) . We mea...

BACKGROUND Urinary kidney injury molecule 1 is a recently discovered early biomarker for renal damage that has been proven to be correlated to urinary cadmium in rats. However, so far the association between urinary cadmium and kidney injury molecule 1 in humans after long-term, low-dose cadmium exposure has not been studied. METHODS We collected urine and blood samples from 153 non-smoking m...

A 45-year-old male paint technician was identified as having an elevated whole-blood cadmium of 5.9 microg/l (Occupational and Safety Health Administration reference range for workers: <or=5.0 microg/l) through a routine workplace biological monitoring programme. Other than smoking 1.5-2 packs of cigarettes daily for 23 years, no additional non-occupational exposures to cadmium were identified....

BACKGROUND Cadmium is a metal used in the zinc, copper and steel industries, and in the manufacture of electric batteries and solar cells. Acute cadmium poisoning is characterized by irritation of the respiratory tract, while in chronic poisoning the main target organ is the renal tubule. AIMS We report a patient with chronic work overexposure to cadmium, who presented a IgA mesangial glomeru...

In order to evaluate the efficiency and renal protective effects of glutathione during Ca(++)-EDTA chelation therapy for chronic cadmium intoxication, we measured the renal excretion of cadmium, β(2)-microglobulin, proteinuria, and hematuria during intravenous administration of glutathione with Ca(++)-EDTA in a 54-year-old patient with chronic cadmium intoxication. We administered 500 mg of Ca(...

The heavy metal cadmium is a widely dispersed environmental pollutant that has no biological function in the human body and is known to cause several adverse health effects, mainly on kidneys and bone and the endocrine system. Little is known about effects in early life. The main source of exposure in a non-smoking population is via basic foods such as cereals (e.g. wheat and rice) and vegetabl...

Polyaminocarboxylic acids have widely been used as antidotes in heavy metal intoxication, however their hydrophilic nature renders them to be mostly distributed extracellularly. To facilitate the intracellular delivery of such chelating agent, triethlenetetraamine-hexaacetic acid (TTHA) was encapsulated in small unilamellar vesicles (SUV) or dehydration rehydration vesicles (DRV) and its effect...

Metallothionein from livers of mice was isolated by gel chromatography and isoelectric focusing. One of two forms thus obtained contained 32 percent cysteine. This form, labeled in vitro with 109Cd, was injected intravenously in mice, and the distribution of 109Cd was studied. Animals killed after 4 hrs had over 80 percent of the injected dose in the kidneys. Protein obtained after gel chromato...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate the relationship between urinary excretion of cadmium (U-Cd) and biomarkers of renal dysfunction. METHODS One hundred eighty five non-smoking female farmers (aged from 44 to 71 years) were recruited from two rural areas with different cadmium levels of exposure in southern China. Morning spot urine samples were collected for dete...