Effects of milk diet on gastrointestinal absorption of cadmium in adult mice.

Effect of milk diet on absorption of cadmium were investigated in a 6-week study. Forty adult male mice were divided into groups of 10 and treated with different foodstuffs (I: mouse pellets and deionized water; II: mouse pellets and water containing cadmium chloride: III: milk only: IV: milk containing cadmium chloride). The intake of cadmium and milk was regulated during the experiment to make sure that the animal groups received the same amounts of cadmium andmilk respectively. After 2 weeks the mice were exposed to a single oral dose via stomach tube of 109CdCl2, the fate of which was followed by whole body counting. A markedly higher whole body retention of 109CdCl2 was observed in animals given milk diet compared to other groups. Total cadmium concentrations in different organs measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry were twice as high in milk-fed mice compared to mice fed on R35 mouse pellets.