Developmental toxicity of cadmium in mice. II. Immunotoxic effects

Pregnant randombred ICR mice were administered 2.5 or 5.0 mg/kg body weight of CdCl2 on day 16 of pregnancy and immune responses of their offspring were tested postnatally. At the age of 4 weeks, proliferative responses of spleen cells to concanavalin A, phytohemagglutinin and lipopolysaccharide and the background proliferation were enhanced in both experimental groups. The activation index was increased only after activation with concanavalin A and lipopolysaccharide in the group treated by the dose 5 mg/kg. The delayed type hypersensitivity to sheep red blood cells after immunization at 4 weeks was decreased. The serum IgM antibody response to sheep red blood cells was increased in the offspring of females treated with the lower dose of cadmium both at week 4 and 8. Activity of peritoneal macrophages (NBT, H2O2) was enhanced at 4 weeks and lowered subsequently. It is concluded that in mice the maternal exposure to a single dose of cadmium results in postnatally manifested deviations of immune functions of their offsprings.