Effects of dithiocarbamates on intestinal absorption and organ distribution of cadmium chloride in mice.

Earlier publications have demonstrated that diethyldithiocarbamate (DDC) antagonizes the acute toxicity of injected CdCl2 but enhances the acute toxicity of orally administered CdCl2, most likely due to the high lipophilicity of DDC and the complex formed with the Cd++ ion. This study demonstrates that the hydrophilic dithiocarbamates dihydroxyethyldithiocarbamate (DHE-DTC) and N-methyl-N-glucamyl dithiocarbamate (NMG-DTC) also enhance the intestinal absorption of orally administered CdCl2 in mice, although less efficiently than DDC. After oral as well as intraperitoneal administration 15 min. after a single oral dose of CdCl2 the dithiocarbamates tested enhanced the intestinal cadmium uptake with a relative efficiency, DDC greater than DHE-DTC greater than NMG-DTC, which correlated to the lipophilicity of both the dithiocarbamates and the complexes formed with the Cd++ ion. Intraperitoneal administration of DDC induced extensive changes in the relative organ distribution of absorbed cadmium, compared to the distribution of CdCl2 administered alone. However, the only noticeable effect of administration of DHE-DTC and NMG-DTC was decreased gastrointestinal deposition of cadmium, irrespective of the administration route of the dithiocarbamates. Earlier studies have demonstrated that DDC and various other dithiocarbamates are capable of mobilizing intracellular cadmium deposits, presumably due to some lipophilicity. This study demonstrates that these dithiocarbamates may also enhance the intestinal absorption of cadmium.