Cadmium induces the thymus apoptosis of pigs through ROS-dependent PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Cadmium (Cd) is a transition metal that is toxic to living organisms in the environment and endangers living organisms. To explore whether Cd induces apoptosis in pig thymus and its possible mechanism, the role Cd induction of the PTEN/PI3K/Akt pathway in apoptosis of thymus cells was studied in pigs. We found that Cd exposure (the feed is treated with Cd) significantly increased Cd accumulation in the thymus of pigs. The TUNEL assay confirmed the typical apoptotic characteristics of thymus in Cd group. Moreover, in the Cd group, the activities of antioxidant indices decreased significantly, while the levels of oxidative stress indexes increased significantly, and the mRNA levels of GSH, CAT, Gpx1, GST, SOD1, and SOD2 decreased obviously. Moreover, the mRNA and protein levels of PTEN/PI3K/AKT and apoptosis-related genes were detected by qPCR and western blotting. The results show that the expressions of PI3K and AKT decreased, while the expression of PTEN increased, indicating that pathway activated. With the PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway regulating, Bcl-2 expression decreased. Conversely, the mRNA and protein expression of apoptosis-related genes were up-regulated. In conclusion, accumulation of Cd in the pigs caused oxidative damage to immune tissues. In addition, Cd-induced oxidative stress activates the PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway, inducing apoptosis in the thymus of pigs.