Cadmium endothelial damage

Electron microscopy of sensory ganglia jifter acute cadmium intoxication has shown that the endothelial cells are damaged at... 

Functional differences, such as variations in the occurrence of certain enzymes, may exist between different vascular beds. In brain capillary endothelial cells, the distribution of alkaline phosphatase and Na , K ATPase differs between the luminal and antiluminal cytoplasmic membranes. Cadmium is known to inhibit several SH-containing enzymes and it might be speculated that the content and subcellular distribution of enzymes in ganglionic endothelial cells are of importance for the preferential occurrence of cadmium-induced vascular injury in ganglia. A similar theory has been proposed to explain the vascular damage caused by cadmium in the testis. Thus, Aoki and Hoffer suggested that a cadmium-sensitive testicular isoenzyme of carbonic anhydrase may in some way be associated with the capillary endothelial cells. 

Damage to cerebral blood vessels in fetuses has been described after administration of cadmium ions to pregnant rats. When doses of 2 mg/kg wei injected intraperitone illy on day 20 of gestation, the endothelial cells in the caudate nucleus of the fetal brain were found to be vacuolated 1-3 d after cadmium injection. No other ultrastructural abnorm ilities were seen in the feted brain. ... 

The pathogenesis of endothelial cell damage in ganglia and the immature brain is still obscure. Further experimentation, perhaps with the use of cultured endothelial cells, is necessaiy to explain why endothelial cell damage is confined to certain regions of the nervous system and why only part of the endothelial cell population in these regions is sensitive to cadmium. 

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