Interaction of cadmium with actin microfilaments in vitro

Cadmium, an environmental and occupational health hazard, can substitute for calcium in the activation of calmodulin in several in vitro assays. It was shown that Cd(2+) can substitute for Ca(2+) in the induction of actin-based gelation in cytoplasmic extracts from rat liver; gelation induced by either Ca(2+) or Cd(2+) is inhibited by trifluoperazine, a well known calmodulin inhibitor; and in MDCK cells there is a Cd(2+)-induced redistribution of actin filaments with the loss of stress fibres and the appearance of actin bundles at the periphery of these cells.