• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.371-374
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• 2006

This study was carried out to investigate the relationship of the cadmium and lead levels in blood by age, gender and smoking status among 181 students in Gyeongnam province from June 2005 to July 2006. The cadmium and lead levels in blood was analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Subjects were classified for the investigation according to smoking status as smokers and nonsmokers, age and gender. Mean blood cadmium level in male and female was $1.65{\mu}g/dl,\;1.10{\mu}g/dl$ respectively. Male was significantly higher than that of female. Blood cadmium levels in heavy smokers ($11{\sim}20\;ea/day$) and light smokers ($1{\sim}10\;ea/day$) were $2.34{\mu}g/dl,\;1.10{\mu}g/dl$ respectively. Heavy smokers were significantly higher than those of light smokers. In the comparison of age, gender and smoking status in blood Lead levels were no significant differences. In conclusion, heavy smoking was the most significant risk factor to increase blood cadmium levels. The further study will need analysis of the other factors related to the elevation of the cadmium and lead levels.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.37-42
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• 1997

The toxic and detoxifying effects of cadmium and zinc on rat plasma ACTH and serum cortisol levels were investigated in rats. Rats were injected by i.p. with saline (0.9%), cadmium chloride (0.25 or 0.5mg/kg body weight) and pretreated with zinc chloride (4mg/kg body weight) before cadmium chloride treatment 1 or 2 weeks, respectively. The ACTH levels were no significant differences in cadmium 0.25mg/kg-treated group, but were significantly decreased in cadmium 0.5mg/kg-treated group compared with normal group. The ACTH levels after zinc pretreatment for 1 week were significantly increased but zinc pretreatment for 2 week were no difference. The serum cortisol levels of cadmium treated rats were significantly decreased, but were increased in zinc pretreated rats. The results showed that the zinc have some protective effect on cadmium toxicity in rats.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.461-471
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• 1996

This study was performed to investigate the effect of dietary protein and cysteine levels on cadmium toxicity in rats. Seventy-two male rats of Sprague-Dawley strain weighting 171$\pm$3g were blocked into 12 groups according to body weight, and were raised for 30 days. cadmium chloride was given at levels of 0 or 400ppm, protein at levels of 7, 15 and 40%, and cysteine was added(total dietary cysteine contents : 0.45%) to diet or not. The results are summarized as follow. Food intake, weight gain, food were lower than those of cadmium free group. But, these were increased with increasing dietary protein level and cysteine addition. Fecal cadmium excretion was remarkably increased in high protein (40%) groups. Thus, cadmium retention rates were decreased in high protein groups. Metallothionein concentrations in liver and kidney were increased in cysteine addition, and cadmium administration. Especially, these were remarkably increased in cadmium and cysteine added groups. Urinary calcium excretion was increased with cadmium administration, but urinary protein excretion and creatinine clearance were not changed in these animal. In conclusion, food intake, weight gain and organ weights were decreased with administration. Cadmium toxicity was alleviated by increasing fecal cadmium excretion, while cysteine addition increased metallothionein concentrations in liver and kidney. From these results, it was shown that cadmium toxicity was alliviated by synergistic effect of high protein level and cysteine addition.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.360-378
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• 1992

This study was performed to investigate effect of dietary protein and calcium levels on cad-mium intoxication in rats. Adult Sprague-Dawley male rate(245$\pm$21g) were blocked into 18 groups of 7 animals according to body weight Nine experimental diets different with protein(40%, 15%, 7%) and calcium (1.3%, 0.6%, 0.1%) levels were prepared. Nine groups of animals were fed each diet with 50ppm cadmium in drinking water and the other 9 groups without cadmium for 30days. Results were summarized as follows: 1) Body weight gain F. E. R(Food Efficiency Ratio) and weights of liver kidney and femur were higher in high protein groups among cadmium exposed groups. 2) Cadmium contents in liver and intestine were higher in rats fed high protein diet or low calcium diet among cadmium exposed groups. Fecal cadmium excretion was highest in high protein-high calcium diet group among cadmium exposed animals. Metallothionein contents in liver kidney and intestine were higher in animals exposed to cadmium and fed high protein diets. 3) Gel filtration chromatography of cytosolic solution showed that the higher dietary protein and calcium levels were the more cadmium was found in metallothionein fractions. 4) No gross histopathological change was seen in liver kidney and intestine of cadmium exposed rats. However a significant increase of smooth endoplasmic reticulum which was alleveated by high protein-high calcium diet was observed. Results obtained indicated that not only high protein diet but also high calcium diet showed preventive effect on cadmium intoxication by increasing the induction of metallothionein syn-thesis and decreasing the cadmium absorption.

• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.44
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• pp.278.1-278.12
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• 2018

Background: We evaluated the association of blood pressure (BP) with blood levels of cadmium, lead, and cadmium and lead together (cadmium + lead) in a representative sample of adolescents from Korea. Methods: We used 2010-2016 data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. This cross-sectional study enrolled adolescents aged at 10-18 years-old who completed a health examination survey and had blood measurements of lead and cadmium. The association of adjusted mean differences in diastolic and systolic BP with doubling of blood lead and cadmium were estimated by regression of BP against ${\log}_2$-transformed blood metals and their quartiles after covariate adjustment. Adjusted odds ratio for prehypertension were calculated for ${\log}_2$-transformed blood levels of lead and cadmium and their quartiles. Results: Our analysis of adolescents in Korea indicated that blood levels of lead and cadmium were not significantly associated with increased BP or risk of prehypertension. However, the cadmium + lead level was associated with prehypertension. Previous studies showed that blood levels of lead and cadmium were associated with increased BP and risk of hypertension in adult populations. We found no such association in Korean adolescents. Conclusion: We found that the cadmium + lead level was associated with prehypertension. The differences between adults and adolescents are because adolescents generally have lower levels of these blood metals or because adolescents only rarely have hypertension.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.828-836
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• 1994

A low level exposure experiment was conducted on growing rats to investigate the accumulation and organ distribution of protein bound cadmium compared with cadmium chloride. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed for 21days with one of the semisynthetic diets, which contains cadmium as either bovine liver- or kidney meal bound cadmium, cadmium chloride with uncontaminated liver meal or cadmium chloride without organ meal, in the levels of ca. 0.5, 1 and 1.5mg/kg diet, respectively. After 21days of exposure cadmium was accumulated in liver, kidney and gastrointestinal tracts depending upon cadmium levels in diet. Inspite of very low cadmium accumulation in whole blood, it tends also to increase with dietary cadmium levels. The blood cadmium concentration of animals fed organ meal containing diets was about 4-7 fold higher than that without organ meal, regardless of cadmium was intrinsically bound to protein or not. However, significant effects of organ protein on cadmium accumulation in liver, kidney and digestive tracts were not detectable, when cadmium was supplemented as cadmium chloride. On the other hands, animals fed diet containing ca. 1.5mg Cd/kg as organ bound cadmium retained more cadmium in liver, kidney and digestive tracts compared to cadmium chloride with organ meal, whereby the increase of cadmium concentration in kidney was greater then in liver. However, when the concentration of protein bound cadmium was<1mg/kg diet, organ bound cadmium was not significantly different from cadmium chloride in bioavailability and organ distribution. From this result it is suggested that the intestinal absorption of protein bound cadmium is influenced of the amount of cadmium bound in protein. When cadmium concentration in protein is relatively low, protein bound cadmium seems to be absorbed in the same way as cadmium ions are absorbed. However, when the concentration is high, at least a small amount of intact protein bound cadmium could be absorbed and accumulated selectively in kidney.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.95-104
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• 2012

Objectives: The goal of this study was to investigate the relationships between proximity to an industrial complex and blood lead levels and urinary cadmium levels. Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey and analyzed blood lead and urinary cadmium levels using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAs). Data was analyzed using logistic regression analysis. All statistical analyses were conducted with SAS software version 9.2. The distance between the residence and an industrial complex was calculated through a Geographical Information System (GIS). Results: A total of 967 residents living near a large petrochemical complex in Ulsan participated. The geometric mean levels of blood lead and urinary cadmium were $1.70{\mu}g/dl$ (male: $1.77{\mu}g/dl$, female: $1.67{\mu}g/dl$), and $0.72{\mu}g/g$ creatinine (male: $0.49{\mu}g/g$ cr. female: $0.89{\mu}g/g$ cr.), respectively. Blood lead and urinary cadmium levels both increased with age and were higher among smokers compared to never smokers. Both significantly showed a decreasing trend with rising income. Results from multiple logistic regression analysis showed that urinary cadmium levels for subjects aged less than 20 years old were negatively associated with distance from the industrial area to the residence. The results, however, indicated that the blood lead levels were positively associated with the distance. Conclusions: The results of this study support that proximity to an industrial complex is related to urinary cadmium values for children. A positive finding with blood lead can be explained by the ambiguity of lead exposure sources in the general environment.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.192-199
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• 2009

Cadmium intoxication has been associated with the dysregulation of iron homeostasis. In the present study, we investigated the effect of cadmium on the expression of ferroportin 1 (FPN1), an important iron transporter protein that is involved in iron release from macrophages. When we incubated cadmium with J774 mouse macrophage cells, FPN1 mRNA levels were significantly increased in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, the cadmium-induced FPN1 mRNA expression was associated with increased levels of FPN1 protein. On the other hand, cadmium-mediated FPN1 mRNA induction in J774 cells was completely blocked when cells were co-treated with a transcription inhibitor, acitomycin D. Also, cadmium directly stimulated the activity of the FPN1-promoter driven luciferase reporter, suggesting that the cadmium up-regulates FPN1 gene expression in a transcription-dependent manner. Finally, cadmium exposure to J774 macrophages increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels by ${\sim}2$-fold, compared to untreated controls. When J774 cells were co-treated with antioxidant N-acetylcystein, the cadmium-induced FPN1 mRNA induction was significantly attenuated. In summary, the results of this study clearly demonstrated that cadmium increased FPN1 expression in macrophages through a mechanism that involves ROS production, and suggests another important interaction between iron and cadmium metabolism.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.113-117
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• 2014

The mechanisms by which iron is absorbed are similar to those of divalent metals, particularly manganese, lead, and cadmium. These metals, however, show different toxicokinetics in relation to menarche or menopause, although their interaction with iron is the same. This review focuses on the kinetics of these three toxic metals (manganese, lead, and cadmium) in relation to menarche, pregnancy, and menopause. The iron-manganese interaction is the major factor determining sex-specific differences in blood manganese levels throughout the whole life cycle. The effects of estrogen overshadow the association between iron deficiency and increased blood lead concentrations, explaining why women, despite having lower ferritin concentrations, have lower blood lead concentrations than men. Iron deficiency is associated with elevated cadmium levels in premenopausal women, but not in postmenopausal women or men; these findings indicate that sex-specific differences in cadmium levels at older ages are not due to iron-cadmium interactions, and that further studies are required to identify the source of these differences. In summary, the potential causes of sex-specific differences in the blood levels of manganese, lead, and cadmium differ from each other, although all these three metals are associated with iron deficiency. Therefore, other factors such as estrogen effects, or absorption rate as well as iron deficiency, should be considered when addressing environmental exposure to toxic metals and sex-specific differences in the blood levels of these metals.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.108-114
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• 2008

Objectives : To estimate the normal range of blood and urine cadmium levels using data from occupationally non-exposed office workers to cadmium in selected Korean women. Methods : A total of 437 women from healthy office workers were analyzed. To analyze blood and urine cadmium levels, blood and urine samples of study subjects were collected carefully and analyzed. Using a structured questionnaire, characteristics of the study subjects were investigated by well trained interviewers. Results : Mean blood cadmium concentration (CdB) was $0.46\;{\mu}g/{\ell}$ (GM; 0.16), whereas mean urine cadmium concentration (CdU) was $0.94\;{\mu}g/g$ creatinine (GM; 0.37). A significant increase of cadmium levels in blood and urine was observed by the rise of age (p=0.007; p=0.002, respectively). In the analysis of smoking state, blood and urine cadmium levels were higher in current smokers than in nonsmokers. In the multiple regression analysis, the rise of age and currently smoking were observed as a significant factor associated with cadmium level. Conclusion : These findings suggest that mean cadmium level in blood and urine indicated a relatively low level, although the rise of age and currently smoking were observed as a significant factor related to cadmium level. It can be used for the basic data to prevent harmful effects of cadmium exposure among female workers occupationally exposed to cadmium.