Tissue ascorbate as a metabolic marker in cadmium toxicity.

Daily subcutaneous injection of cadmium chloride for two weeks to normal and protein restricted rats show significant increase in the wet weight of liver, kidney, adrenal and decrease in pituitary, testis and thyroid, while no significant changes are observed in the brain. The concentration of ascorbic acid (AA) decreased significantly in plasma, liver, kidney, spleen, adrenal, pituitary and brain but increased in testis and thyroid whereas no significant alteration was observed in the pancreas after cadmium treatment in both the dietary regimen. It is apparent that cadmium causes the alteration of AA in different tissues/organs of the body in normal protein dietary state which is further potentiated in protein restricted condition. During stress, the metabolism of different tissues responds differentially as far as their AA concentration is concerned. Therefore the alteration of AA level in the different tissues/organs might have some correlation with the extent of cadmium toxicity.