Cadmium-induced experimental Fanconi syndrome.

We have demonstrated that repetitive injections of cadmium into rats leads to the abrupt development of Fanconi syndrome after the renal cortical concentration of cadmium has increased approximately eighty-fold. The syndrome is temporally associated with a fall in both Na-K-ATPase activity and ATP levels, suggesting a possible causal relationship between altered proximal tubular transport and inhibition of the ATP-Na-K-ATPase transport system.