Cadmium accumulation and subcellular distribution in relation to cadmium chloride induced cytotoxicity in vitro.

A bovine kidney cell culture system was used to assess what relationship cadmium (Cd) uptake and subcellular distribution had to cadmium chloride induced cytotoxicity. Twenty-four hour incubation with 0.1-10 microM Cd elicited 0-90% cytotoxicity. Fifty percent cytotoxicity was estimated to result from 0.8 microM Cd. A concentration-related Cd accumulation paralleled the cytotoxicity profile. The time-course for Cd accumulation was linear for the first 6 h of exposure and plateaued by 18 h post-exposure. When the degree of cytotoxicity was compared with the cellular Cd burden at 24 h post-treatment a least-squares linear regression analysis (r = 0.93) indicated a direct relationship. Subcellular distribution studies indicated greater than 90% Cd recovery from the soluble supernatant (105 000 g) at all levels of cytotoxicity studied. Metallothionein sequestered less than 25% of the cellular Cd. As a result of the correlation of the degree of cytotoxicity with the cellular Cd burden and the independence of subcellular distribution from cytotoxicity, a cumulative mechanism of toxicity for Cd in MDBK cells was suggested.