[The role of cysteine in cadmium- induced experimental testicular damage (author's transl)].

Simultaneous administration of cysteine and DL-ethionine in food protects, and enhances, respectively, the tissue damage produced by parenteral administration of cadmium (CdCl2) in testicles of rats. The effects are explained as an inactivation of SH-groups by cadmium, and in interference in cysteine metabolism by ethionine, respectively.