[Heme oxygenase-1 expression and apoptosis induced by cadmium in human embryon kidney cells]

To investigate apoptosis and expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) induced by cadmium in human embryonic kidney cells (HEK239T).

The MTT method was used for determining the cell proliferation activity. The apoptosis was determined by the flow cytometry. The HO-l mRNA expression and protein level were detected by RT-PCR method and Western blot respectively.

The ratios of apoptosis in HEK239T cells were 11.90% +/- 0.28%, 9.27% +/- 1.73%, 9.79% +/- 0.67% and 8 .97% +/- 1.60% at the concentration of 5.0, 10.0, 20.0 and 40.0 micromol/L CdCl(2) respectively, higher than those in the control group (6.69% +/- 0.46%) with the significant difference (P < 0.01). The CdCl(2) of between 10 and 40 micromol/L could highly induce the expression of HO-1 of the human embryonic kidney cells. The expression would increase slowly till the flat stage with the increase of the dosage and then would decrease slightly over time.

The cadmium can induce the apoptosis of the human embryonic kidney cells and up-regulate the expression of HO-1.